Originally published in 1988 and 1990, this book asks what positive lessons can be learned from some of the developing world's success stories on population. Six developing world countries, as well as the Indian state of Kerala had achieved dramatic reductions in birth rates at the time the book was originally published. The book examines what made their success possible and what lessons they held for the planet, where human beings (now, as then) must bring our species into balance with the natural world.