Calculate the cost of having another child
It is good to have children and every newborn should be celebrated. However, is it wise if having many children is going to lead you into selling part of your land, mortgaging the rest and taking a loan from a microfinance company?
By Harriet Birungi
It is good to have children and every newborn should be celebrated. However, is it wise if having many children is going to lead you into selling part of your land, mortgaging the rest and taking a loan from a microfinance company?
According to the Demographic and Health survey of 2006, the tendency to marry many wives and produce many children occurs more among the people of the lowest social economic status.
It states that 23.2% men in the lowest wealth status had many wives and children as opposed to the wealthiest who were at 17.2%.
As we mark World Population Day today, it is important to remember that regardless of our traditional beliefs, you need to consider the economic issues before you make the decision to produce a child. Every child comes with a cost that you need to calculate.
Francis Tucungwirwe Rwamutega of the Development Research Centre, Makerere has come up with a child cost index module to give people a clear monthly expense of raising a child in a recommended way.
Focusing on Kampala, Tucungwirwe took expense units under Child Cost Index, as the costs that a parent incurs while raising a child.
He says the units included food expenses as provided for by the WHO, which include the food calories recommended as well as estimates from parents.
There was also education, based on current average school fees, he used data from health centres, clothing data from parents who also gave expense units of housing, leisure and entertainment.
He compiled these for a whole month to get the child cost month index.
According to this index, a parent spends sh140,000 a month on a two-year-old, sh280,000 on an eight-year-old, a sh360,000 on a 10-year-old child and sh440,000 on a 16-year-old. Therefore, for a family of four children it comes to sh1,220,000 a month and sh14,640,000 per year.
Tucungwire says if the child is to be raised up to 18 years, the cost rises to sh67,680,000 and to 24 years, it goes to sh102,960,000.
But while this raises the need to produce children you can afford to look after, many men seem not to care.
Our population growth rate is 3.2% the highest in East Africa.
At this rate, Uganda’s population now estimated to be in excess of 30 million is growing by about 1.2 million people annually.
The rapid population growth undermines the country’s efforts to defeat poverty, provide quality social services and puts enormous stress on land and other resources.
The population is projected to double every 20 years and by 2028, Uganda will have 60 million people.
Hannington Burunde of the Population Secretariat wonders if Ugandans know the cost of raising a child into be a useful citizen.
“I know some parents think children are God given and so, He will provide. They forget that the children have earthly needs that must be met by parents. And when they fail, the burden is turned on to Government.â€
Citing the example of a marabou stork, Burunde says the bird does not lay eggs unless they have a nest. It lays three eggs at a time and looks after them until they are mature enough to fend for themselves. “A child is more valuable and needs a lot to be responsible citizen. When parents fail to cater for their children, the consequence will be ‘the lucky ones’ ending on the streets while ‘the unlucky ones’ remain in the village doing more harm than good.â€
Tucungwirwe advises heads of families to use the child cost index as a guide to having a manageable family.
“Income contraception is control of fertility through income thresholds,†he says. “If a family’s annual income is less than child cost index of raising a child up to 25 years, that family should not produce more than three children.â€
If a family needs to produce children who it can care and provide for adequately it should not exceed three children if its annual income is less than sh5m, he added.
He adds that human life is getting increasingly expensive to maintain and is threatened by many challenges like climate change, poverty, disease and the shortage of land, among others. “People with many children are very vulnerable to these challenges.â€
It is therefore, his conviction that the child cost index, if studied carefully, can contribute greatly to Uganda’s development efforts and quest for a quality population.
It is good to have children and every newborn should be celebrated. However, is it wise if having many children is going to lead you into selling part of your land, mortgaging the rest and taking a loan from a microfinance company?
According to the Demographic and Health survey of 2006, the tendency to marry many wives and produce many children occurs more among the people of the lowest social economic status.
It states that 23.2% men in the lowest wealth status had many wives and children as opposed to the wealthiest who were at 17.2%.
As we mark World Population Day today, it is important to remember that regardless of our traditional beliefs, you need to consider the economic issues before you make the decision to produce a child. Every child comes with a cost that you need to calculate.
Francis Tucungwirwe Rwamutega of the Development Research Centre, Makerere has come up with a child cost index module to give people a clear monthly expense of raising a child in a recommended way.
Focusing on Kampala, Tucungwirwe took expense units under Child Cost Index, as the costs that a parent incurs while raising a child.
He says the units included food expenses as provided for by the WHO, which include the food calories recommended as well as estimates from parents.
There was also education, based on current average school fees, he used data from health centres, clothing data from parents who also gave expense units of housing, leisure and entertainment.
He compiled these for a whole month to get the child cost month index.
According to this index, a parent spends sh140,000 a month on a two-year-old, sh280,000 on an eight-year-old, a sh360,000 on a 10-year-old child and sh440,000 on a 16-year-old. Therefore, for a family of four children it comes to sh1,220,000 a month and sh14,640,000 per year.
Tucungwire says if the child is to be raised up to 18 years, the cost rises to sh67,680,000 and to 24 years, it goes to sh102,960,000.
But while this raises the need to produce children you can afford to look after, many men seem not to care.
Our population growth rate is 3.2% the highest in East Africa.
At this rate, Uganda’s population now estimated to be in excess of 30 million is growing by about 1.2 million people annually.
The rapid population growth undermines the country’s efforts to defeat poverty, provide quality social services and puts enormous stress on land and other resources.
The population is projected to double every 20 years and by 2028, Uganda will have 60 million people.
Hannington Burunde of the Population Secretariat wonders if Ugandans know the cost of raising a child into be a useful citizen.
“I know some parents think children are God given and so, He will provide. They forget that the children have earthly needs that must be met by parents. And when they fail, the burden is turned on to Government.â€
Citing the example of a marabou stork, Burunde says the bird does not lay eggs unless they have a nest. It lays three eggs at a time and looks after them until they are mature enough to fend for themselves. “A child is more valuable and needs a lot to be responsible citizen. When parents fail to cater for their children, the consequence will be ‘the lucky ones’ ending on the streets while ‘the unlucky ones’ remain in the village doing more harm than good.â€
Tucungwirwe advises heads of families to use the child cost index as a guide to having a manageable family.
“Income contraception is control of fertility through income thresholds,†he says. “If a family’s annual income is less than child cost index of raising a child up to 25 years, that family should not produce more than three children.â€
If a family needs to produce children who it can care and provide for adequately it should not exceed three children if its annual income is less than sh5m, he added.
He adds that human life is getting increasingly expensive to maintain and is threatened by many challenges like climate change, poverty, disease and the shortage of land, among others. “People with many children are very vulnerable to these challenges.â€
It is therefore, his conviction that the child cost index, if studied carefully, can contribute greatly to Uganda’s development efforts and quest for a quality population.