Population problems will continue to be a severe impediment to economic development in the low-income countries of Asia. By the year 2000, the population of the six largest countries will have risen to 1.6 billions from the current level of slightly less than 1 billion. The future of Asian countries with population problems is not uniformly discouraging, however, birth rates have begun to decline in many countries - among them Burma, India, Indonesia, and Sri Lanka- for a variety of reasons, mainly family planning. But the birth rate continues to be high in Bangladesh and Pakistan. Neither country has advanced very far in providing the social services usually associated with population change, nor have their family planning programs been very effective.