These add up to significant benefits, particularly if declines in fertility occur quickly enough to generate a demographic dividend. In addition, almost all studies on this topic confirm chat the magnitude of the demographic dividend depends not only on the pace of mortality and fertility decline, but also on the policy environment, particularly in the areas of sexual and reproductive health and family planning, education, labour-market flexibility and openness to trade and savings. Preventing unintended pregnancy protects adolescent girls and boys from being hijacked from their life opportunities. Learning to plan one’s family is a skill that is needed for decades of a person’s reproductive life.