allAfrica.com: Uganda: Big Population in the Way of Development Goals (Page 1 of 2)

After a long day's work, I hit the road with the hope of catching some rest at home. What I needed the most was to get back to a fine homely environment, quiet and organised, away from the hustle and bustle that had filled my day.

On approaching the vicinity of my neighbourhood, the situation was chaotic.

Ragged and scruffy looking children were screaming while running all over the place. They seemed to be enjoying themselves, not caring about their squalid playing area.

The sheer number of these children in just about the same age category was simply provoking. I quickly thought about the seemingly unstable or actually unstable homes that many of these children come from.

I thought about them getting into their teenage years in a few years; what would happen when they became adults? Would they easily find employment? What will they turn out to be? No easy answers, as they all point to a rather bleak future.

Perhaps my neighbourhood would have been a little more endearing if it were not for those many unattended and unsightly children screaming and running all over the place. The big number of these children in an unsanitary playing area was just but a partial reflection of Uganda's rapidly increasing population.

Undesirable fertility rate

The Executive Director of Reproductive Health Uganda (formerly Family Planning Association of Uganda), Mr Elly Mugumya says that Uganda's current fertility rate is undesirable and he attributes it to the limited attention that's being accorded to population and family planning as development matters.

He argues that population as a variable has an impact on economic and development plans. A high population for instance in Uganda's case overshadows Uganda's limited available resources. "More than 50 percent of Uganda's population is not in productive employment hence increasing dependency and poverty," says Mr Mugumya.

Some have argued that a big population is good for Uganda. Their arguments however make little sense when one looks at the social-economic welfare of the average Ugandan home.

The head of Information and Communication at Uganda's Population Secretariat, Mr Hannington Burunde says that a large population can have adverse effects on development: "If you have a large population that cannot make a substantial contribution to development and yet it is demanding social services, then that population is a liability.

"There are about 29 million people in Uganda presently and credible global population reports show that Uganda's population rate is one of the fastest growing in the world. Current United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) indicators put Uganda's rapid growth rate at 3.5 percent per year, making it the third fastest growing country (population terms) in the world.

On an average scale, the Ugandan woman gives birth to seven children in her lifetime. This is an unusually high fertility rate, which has interestingly remained unchanged for over 20 years. Uganda's rate of contraceptive use stands at 23 percent and many women are still sceptical and rather cynical of birth control methods.

Mr Burunde recognises the need to strengthen family planning campaigns and for the government to prioritise family planning as some of the vital measures that ought to be taken to curb the high fertility rates. Close to half of Uganda's population is under 16 years of age and will soon get into the childbearing age.

Ensuing problems

And by 2025, the population will almost double to 58 million. Uganda is one of the 191 nations that in September 2000 became a signatory to the Millennium Declaration which was launched at a UN summit in New York.

The declaration outlines eight Millennium Development goals (MDGs), which countries are aiming to achieve by 2015. The attainment of these goals will certainly translate into a better life for each and every Ugandan.

Much as the Ugandan economy continues to register impressive growth rates, it is quite obvious that the critical goals to development will not be easy to attain by 2015. The rapid population growth poses a unique challenge to the attainment of most MDGs within the next seven years.

Even with impressive economic performance, Uganda still faces several challenges in relation to meeting its targets of the key economic and social indicators.

The 2007 Uganda Progress Report on the MDGs for instance indicates that Uganda's average growth rate has been at about 5.6 percent over the past five years and this is below the 7 percent target that is required to reduce absolute poverty to below 10 percent of the population by 2017.

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