Population Council, Inc.

For 70 years, the Population Council has transformed global thinking on critical health and development issues through our social science, public health, and biomedical research.

As the world confronts multiple social, economic, political, and environmental crises, there is increasing need for high-quality and clearly communicated evidence to inform smart policies and sound investments.

At the Population Council, we are redoubling our efforts to make the greatest contributions through new ideas, rigorous evidence, and innovative solutions.

Over the next eight years, we will harness our expertise to advance four global goals that reflect the urgent problems the world faces. Through these, we will contribute to the United Nations 2030 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), which seek to end poverty, protect the planet, and ensure that all people enjoy peace and prosperity.

We take a multidisciplinary, intergenerational, life-cycle approach that contributes to four global goals, including the connections between them:

-Ensure sexual and reproductive health, rights, and choices
-Empower adolescents and young people to reach their full potential
-Achieve gender equality and equity
-Pursue justice in the face of climate and environmental changes

Our four goals are inextricably intertwined; fulfilling one advances the others and failing on one undermines progress on all. The complexity of their interactions requires the Population Council’s multidisciplinary approach and transdisciplinary training.

We will continue to conduct pioneering research and develop innovative products and tools across our social science, public health, and biomedical portfolios. Our ability to convene experts, provide scientific and policy advice, produce accessible evidence, publish peer-reviewed journals, and cultivate future leaders will amplify our impact.

Leveraging our global talent, local presence, and unique expertise, we collaborate with partners including governments, service providers, and civil society organizations on five objectives to achieve our vision and mission:

-Thought leadership
Be a recognized thought leader and knowledge partner for locally driven research solutions.
-Research
Pioneer cutting-edge data tools and methods, conduct multidisciplinary research, and systematically build bodies of evidence.
-Product development
Be the leading innovator of high quality sexual and reproductive health products for the global market.
-Research impact
Catalyze the use of data and evidence-based tools to inform smart policies and sound investments.
-Sustainability
Grow the next generation of scientists and researchers.

Since 1952, our cutting edge research has changed the way the world thinks about important health and development issues. Many of the ideas and perspectives that seem self-evident today in fact first emerged from an observation, question or insight that challenged accepted norms years ago, including:
- Establishing the field of long-acting reversible contraceptives
- Bringing to light the hazards of smoking when using the pill
- Making the case to invest in very young adolescents (10-14 years old)
- Recognizing women and girls as central to development
- Putting clients at the center of quality healthcare
- Documenting the size and HIV rates among most-at-risk populations in Africa
- Recognizing sexuality health education is about more than biology and individual behaviors
- Introducing a safe, effective and low-cost treatment to reduce maternal mortality
- Demonstrating the benefits of family planning programs
- A framework to analyze what determines fertility rates.