The Expert Group Meeting on Socio-economic Measures Affecting Fertility Behaviour with Special Emphasis on Actionable Programmes was held in Bangkok from 5 to 10 September 1977 in pursuance of the recommendations made by the Committee on Population at its first session held in Bangkok in July 1976. The Meeting represented the twelfth in the series of such expert group meetings or regional seminars on various aspects of family planning programmes convened by ESCAP. These meetings and seminars have played a significant role in identifying the latest thinking and research by experts in specific fields and applying them to further development of family planning programmes in the countries of the region. The Meeting, which was conducted in the form of a dialogue between family planning administrators and planners, social and political scientists, economists and law experts, had four specific objectives before it: (a) To review population policies and programmes in countries of the region, with special reference to incentive and disincentive measures aimed at influencing fertility; (b) To consider the rationale and conceptual basis for utilizing individual and group incentive measures to influence fertility; (c) To extract lessons which have been learned from the various examples of incentive and disincentive programmes in order to assist others who will undertake such programmes at a later date; and (d) To assess the feasibility of using incentives and disincentives to influence fertility based on theory and on the empirical evidence which is available.