Uganda Tops In Fertility

By Kezio Musoke UGANDA has registered one of the highest fertility and population growth rates in the whole world. The acting Director of the Population Secretariat (POPSEC), Paddy Nahabwe, yesterday said a new report showing results of Uganda's Demographic and Health Survey (DHS) of the year 2000, indicates that the average numbers of births per woman is currently 6.9. He said Uganda's fertility and population rates were highest in Africa. Nahabwe, while briefing journalists at the POPSEC offices ahead of the World's Population Day, said it was worrying that the new figures released in the survey could have a continuos negative effect on Uganda. The World's Population Day will be marked on July 11, with a global theme, "Population, Environment and Development." Nahabwe also presented a briefing kit, Population Issues 2001, prepared by United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), which indicated Uganda as one of the countries with potential exposure to health risks from environmental threats created by rapid population growth. He said Uganda's economy would be highly affected if the trends of events in her population continued. "By comparison, a Kenyan woman will have an average of 4.5 children in her lifetime. This means that our population is growing rapidly and continuing to exert pressure on the environment," Nahabwe said. "Uganda's population was about 13 million in 1981. Now 2001 only 20 years later, it has swelled to an estimated 23 million. "It is projected that over the next 25 years, another 32 million people will be added to the Uganda population," he added. He said the rapid urban population growth in Uganda would lead to a high rate of solid waste generation and high demand for land. He said this would result in the use of marginal land, soil erosion, land fragmentation and low agricultural activity in the country. He said efforts must be made to reverse the population growth. Ends