Can we save the world one condom (or birth control pill) at a time? The third episode of Everybody Counts, hosted by Jennifer D. Sciubba, a professor of political demography at Rhodes College, makes the case that family planning is the foundation of peace and security by highlighting the links between population growth and political instability.

Some of the highest fertility rates are found in the least peaceful countries. These fragile states are at risk of “state breakdown,” which results from “multiple institutional failures in different parts of the government” that follow several decades of unaddressed population growth and change, says Jack Goldstone, a Global Fellow at the Wilson Center.

Sciubba also talks to Richard Cincotta, a Global Fellow at the Wilson Center, about how policymakers and development projects often underestimate the rate at which these populations are growing. “Empowering women to have the number of births they…desire makes their country stronger and more secure in the long run,” says Sciubba.

Listen to the podcast to learn more about how family planning is essential to promoting peace and why it is in everybody’s best interest for these countries to be stable and prosperous.

Everybody Counts is a podcast about all the ways population trends shape our world, from immigration, to having babies after 40, to the spread of disease. You can subscribe to the series on iTunes or your podcast player of choice.