Ugandas population growth rate of 3,4 percent per year is the third-highest in the world and has been identified in numerous studies as a leading cause of poverty.
This fast growth puts pressure on land, causes environmental degradation and leads to depletion of natural resources.
Uganda has a natural comparative advantage in agriculture as a result of being endowed with natural fertile soils, reliable rainfall and a year-round growing season. Sustainable use of resources is imperative to ensure that people reap the benefits of this natural blessing.
A paper released by the Ministry of Finance, Planning and Economic Development, concludes that if the population growth rate is maintained, by the year 2014, 28 per cent of the population will live in poverty.
Though that represents a relative decrease from the 38 per cent who lived in poverty in 2002-2003, the actual number of impoverished people will have increased by 1,3 million.
Projections show that if Uganda is able to slow the population growth rate by just one percentage to 2,4 per cent, the percentage of the population in poverty would decrease to 22, which also amounts to an absolute decline in the number of people in poverty by 1,9 million.
A slower population growth rate would help achieve lower mortality rates and improve maternal health.
Social spending on education and health programmes, like Universal Primary Education, have been effectively diluted by the increase in number of people they must attempt to serve.
A smaller population will allow more resources to be spent per person, leading to quality social services.
While a sufficiently large labour force is needed to achieve economic growth, Ugandas 15 per cent unemployment rate shows that lack of labour is not a constraint.
Quite the opposite, there are not enough jobs to occupy the labour force at its current size, leaving people out of work and unable to support themselves and their families.
The misconception that a larger population necessarily leads to growth, results in large families that cannot be supported. Uganda Participatory Poverty Assessment Process (UPPAP) survey shows that many Ugandans, particularly men, have a negative view of family planning and see children as a source of wealth.
However, having many children make parents unable to save money and unable to provide adequately for each child’s health, nutrition and other needs.
Poor households have limited or no access to family planning, which leaves them in a “demographic poverty trap”, in which they end up having more children than they want. Preference surveys show that people desire an average of five children as opposed to the current average of seven.
The factors affecting real fertility rates include female education levels, female employment opportunity and income level.
Improvements in education and opportunities, especially for women, will reduce the fertility rate to the desired rate and further shifts in attitudes about the reality of the economic consequences of large families will help decrease growth rates to a sustainable level and help reduce poverty.
Kilder: New Vision og The Push Journal
