The Population Council was founded by John D. Rockefeller 3rd in 1952. According to Rockefeller, the reason to care about population was "to improve the quality of people's lives, to help make it possible for individuals everywhere to develop their full potential."  That vision has motivated the Council throughout its 53-year history, even though the circumstances facing the world have changed substantially.
The West Asia and North Africa (WANA) regional office was established in 1978 in Cairo to serve researchers in the Arab countries and Turkey. More recently, Iran and Pakistan were added to the regional program. Early activities were primarily directed toward strengthening research capacities and fostering interdisciplinary approaches to population studies.  This work led to the establishment of a regional research program in the field of population and the social sciences, MEAwards.

In 1987, a program was added for research and technical consultation in the fields of reproductive health, family resources, and child survival. The objective was to better understand health dynamics within the context of the family. Three multidisciplinary working groups were formed, linking researchers in several countries of the region. Path-breaking studies of women’s reproductive morbidity emerged from this initiative.

Beginning in 1992, the WANA office initiated an operations research (OR) program. Now called FRONTIERS, the program works closely with government agencies, researchers, and nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) in Egypt, and the West Bank and Gaza to support the improvement of family planning and reproductive health services. 

In 1993, activities related to family, gender, and development were intensified and several population policy projects were launched in anticipation of the International Conference on Population and Development (ICPD), held in Cairo in 1994. That work continues with multiple activities in Egypt, Pakistan, Iran, and Jordan. In 1997, a path-breaking initiative began in Iran to support the emerging NGO community and encourage exchange of civil society expertise in the region.
Mission:  The Population Council, an international, nonprofit, nongovernmental organization, seeks to improve the well-being and reproductive health of current and future generations around the world and to help achieve a humane, equitable, and sustainable balance between people and resources.