19/1/2007
Record Number of Countries Contribute Record Amount to UN Population Fund

One hundred and eighty countries contributed $360 million to the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) last year, the largest total since the organization began its operations in 1969.

UNFPA promotes the right of every woman, man and child to enjoy a life of health and equal opportunity. It supports countries in using population data for policies and programmes to reduce poverty and to ensure that every pregnancy is wanted, every birth is safe, every young person is free of HIV/AIDS, and every girl and woman is treated with dignity and respect.

 “We are very thankful for the continuous and growing support from nearly all United Nations Member States,” UNFPA Executive Director Thoraya Ahmed Obaid said this week. “We take this new record as a solid sign of the global commitment to our work and mandate.”

The top six donors were the Netherlands, Sweden, Norway, the United Kingdom, Japan and Denmark. In addition, every nation in Latin America and the Caribbean, as well as all sub-Saharan Africa, pledged funds to UNFPA in 2006.