This year’s State of the World Population (SWOP) report comes at the 50th anniversary of the creation of UNFPA, the UN agency for sexual and reproductive health, and the 25th anniversary of the International Conference on Population and Development (ICPD). The report analyzes the progress the world has made regarding the promises of the ICPD including putting individuals in charge of their own reproductive decisions and empowering women and girls as a precondition for development. The report also identifies areas of improvement and tells stories of women who lived through the transformative decades since the promises of the ICDP were first made.

For an interactive experience of the main SWOP conclusions, please visit: unfpa.org/swop

Despite progress, there is still a long way to go before all women and girls in the region have the power and means to fully realize their rights, govern their bodies and make informed decisions about their sexual and reproductive health. Achieving universal access to sexual and reproductive health is not only a matter of rights, but it is also crucial to achieving other global development objectives, including the Sustainable Development Goals.

Many women today have better lives than their mothers and can hope for even more for their daughters. That hope rests largely on realizing sexual and reproductive rights and choices for everyone.

To achieve that goal, governments, civil society and international organizations can strive for: THREE ZEROS—

 NO unmet need for contraception

 NO preventable maternal deaths

 And NO violence or harmful practices against women and girls.