At its core, UNFPA’s work is about agency: ensuring that people can make informed decisions about their bodies, their lives and their futures and that they can do so in safety and dignity.

In 2025, across Asia and the Pacific, the question at the heart of our work remained urgent: do women, girls and young people have the power to shape their own lives?

In a year marked by profound global uncertainty, the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) stood firm in its commitment to ensure that rights, health and futures remain within reach for all.

Across the region, UNFPA reached 12.5 million people with essential sexual and reproductive health and protection services. Together with our partners, we helped prevent 978,000 unintended pregnancies, avert over 20,500 maternal deaths and avoid 256,000 unsafe abortions. We responded to 41 emergencies across 26 countries, ensuring that life-saving supplies reached affected populations swiftly, often within 72 hours. These results matter, not only for their scale but for what they represent: the ability of systems to deliver, even under strain.

The year also reminded us of a fundamental truth: demographic change, whether driven by ageing, migration or shifting fertility patterns, is not a crisis in itself. The real challenge is whether people have the freedom, resources and support to make informed choices about their lives. Our work remains firmly anchored in this principle of reproductive agency, ensuring that policies and systems respond to people’s realities with dignity and respect.

UNFPA will continue to rise together with partners, communities and governments in defence of rights and health across Asia and the Pacific. Because when rights are protected and choices are respected, societies are better equipped to move forward with dignity and resilience.