Pretoria — Despite improvements in literacy and educational levels, a large number of young people leave schools each year without the necessary skills to compete for gainful employment in the formal sector, according to Census 2001.

"Many of them come from poor households that have limited, if any, capacity to sustain them economically, consequently, unemployment has become a prominent feature among young people in our country, with associated social ills such as crime and substance abuse," the Census found.

According to the Census, the youth constitute a majority of the population with 36.8 percent aged between 15 and 35 years and 10 to 14 year olds make up about 11.3 percent of the total population.

Census 1996 data estimated the South African population at 40 million and today the estimates put the figure at 48.5 million with 58 percent living in urban areas in 2004.

The figures were revealed during a three-day Public Seminar: Ten year's of Implementing Population Policy in South Africa, on Monday.

The seminar will focus on the changes in population and development trends in South Africa since the implementation of the Population Policy 10 years ago. The purpose of the ten-year review was to make a countrywide assessment of the state of affairs with population and development trends and dynamics in the context of the policy goal, objectives and strategies and to highlight issues of major concern. The seminar will focus on the overview of population trends and dynamics in South Africa; sexual and reproductive health and rights; HIV and AIDS; gender equity and equality; population, environmental and development; children, families and households; poverty and inequality among other things.

The study was conducted in the Integrated Sustainable Rural Development Programme and the Urban Renewal Programme nodal areas.

Commenting on the review, Social Development Deputy Minister Dr Jean Swanson-Jacobs said the children and the youth are the national pride of South Africa and the government cannot afford to sacrifice the future of this country.

"This is the last generation in which the benefits of the demographic dividend associated with a youthful population could be reaped, if we fail to use this window of opportunity, we would have failed them and they will judge us harshly in the future," Dr Swanson-Jacobs said.

She said the current levels of migration in South Africa pose extraordinary challenges to local government and stretch their capacity to the limit the provision of basic services.

"Migration and rapid urbanisation are central themes in population and development and pose formidable challenges for sustainable development and service delivery especially in semi-urban and urban areas.

"While government embraces the concept of a developmental state, the unpredictable nature of migration trends coupled with unemployment, poverty and sprawling informal settlement threaten these ideals," she said.

The review showed that informal settlements have grown by more than 22 percent since 1995 and in 2005 contributed to almost 16 percent of all households in the country.

The review noted that government has made significant progress in addressing poverty at both policy and programmatic level including intervention in social security programme and improvement in access to basic services, notably in the area of health and social services and housing.

There are also notable changes in the decline in fertility and an increase in infant mortality rate.

"Total fertility rate currently stands at 2.5 children per woman while infant mortality rate is still high at 56 infant deaths per 1 000 live births, based death notification recorded infant death increased sharply from 27 044 in 1997 to 46 026 in 2005," the report revealed.

It noted that this could be attributed to the lower immunisation rates of children adding that the proportion of fully immunised children had decreased from 63.4 percent in 1998 to 55 percent in 2003 with higher coverage in urban areas.

The review also noted that the health of mother and children remained a worrisome issue in the attainment of a better health for all.

The data on maternal mortality shows an increase from 230 to 400 per 100 000 live births between 1990 and 2005.

"The trends of both indicators, maternal and infant mortality rates show that much work still has to be done to improve the quality of life of mothers and their children.

"We [government] urgently need to introduce targeted interventions such as life skills programmes for out of schools youth, competent health workers and effective coordination mechanisms between all sectors," the report stated.