National Security Study Memorandum 200 (NSSM200) was completed on December 10, 1974 by the U.S. National Security Council under the direction of Henry Kissinger. Its full title is National Security Study Memorandum 200: Implications of Worldwide Population Growth for U.S. Security and Overseas Interests. It was adopted as official U.S. policy by President Gerald Ford in November of 1975. It was originally classified, but was later declassified and obtained by researchers in the early 1990s.

The basic thesis of the memorandum was that population growth in the Lesser developed countries (LDCs) was a threat to U.S. national security, because it would tend to speed the development and industrialization of their economies, making them stronger, more self-sufficient, and more apt to consume their own raw materials. These raw materials were considered to be strategicly important to the U.S. economy.

13 countries are named in the report as particulary problematic with respect to U.S. security interests: India, Bangladesh, Pakistan, Indonesia, Thailand, the Philippines, Turkey, Nigeria, Egypt, Ethiopia, Mexico, Colombia, and Brazil.

The report advocates the promotion of contraception and other population reduction measures. It also raises the question of whether the U.S. should consider withholding food supplies to states that are deemed too lax in pursuing population control measures. The report advises, "In these sensitive relations, however, it is important in style as well as substance to avoid the appearance of coercion."

External link

• Full text of NSSM 200