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Family planning programmes, whether intentionally or not, do by their nature affect the birth rates of populations served. Since the birth rate in the absence of the programmes is not known, it is not possible to determine with certainty the dimensions of their fertility effects. This article presents preliminary results of a continuing study of pre- and post-acceptance natality rates among all new acceptors in the national family planning programme of Malaysia during 1967-1969. To explain the observed results, use has been made of auxiliary data sources. Differences in the fertility of acceptors compared with the general female population are discussed, particularly in terms of differences between these two groups in their age and racial composition. Amongst acceptors, differences in fertility patterns associated with different contraceptive methods accepted are discussed. The limitations inherent in a fertility study covering only three years are recognized, as is the need for continuation and further refinement of the present study.

In the heterogeneous society of the state of Sabah, formerly the British colony of North Borneo and since 1963 a state of Malaysia, the Murut tribe has had a special place. A series of censuses showed that the country's indigenous population as a whole was growing at a slow rate, so that in the year of the most recent count, 1960, the average density of population was no more than 16 persons per square mile--only an eighth of that of Malaya. The decline of the Murut people was a well recognized phenomenon locally, not least by the Muruts themselves. It was investigated from time to time and aroused considerable comment, but no good diagnosis ever resulted, and by 1960 the most recent investigation had petered out in discouragement. Since the thesis that the Murut tribe was dying out and has now recovered is based on the results of censuses, it is necessary to consider how reliable those enumerations were. Is it possible that they were so inaccurate that the one exception to the general pattern of slow but sure growth among the indigenous peoples was no genuine exception but merely the result of poor enumeration?