Mozambique: Population could double every 25 years at current pace – Watch

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Mozambique: Population could double every 25 years at current pace – Watch

9:37 CAT | 20 Apr 2023

In 2022, the world's population reached the 8 billion mark.. [Image: UNFPA]

There are only 12 countries in the world with a population growth equal to or faster than Mozambique.

The population of Mozambique will double every 25 years, if the current pace is maintained, according to demographic indicators published on Wednesday by the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA).

“8 Billion Lives, Infinite Possibilities. The case for rights and choices” is the title of this year’s edition of the publication on the state of the world population.

Mozambique emerges with a current estimated population of 33.9 million and if the annual growth rate remains unchanged, it will have 67.8 million in 2048 – 25 years from now.

The country will grow more than most least developed countries (LDCs), which on average will take 30 years to double their population at current growth rates.

There are only 12 countries in the world with a population growth equal to or faster than Mozambique, including a Portuguese-speaking country, Angola, doubling every 23 years.

The others are (in alphabetical order) Chad (doubling every 23 years), Mali ( doubling every 23 years), Niger (doubling every 19 years), Central African Republic (doubling every 24 years), Democratic Republic of Congo (doubling every 21 years), Somalia (doubling every 23 years), Syria (doubling every 14 years), Ukraine (doubling every 19 years), Uganda (doubling every 25 years), Tanzania (doubling every 24 years) and Zambia (doubling every 25 years).

In Mozambique, population growth reflects the context of a country where each woman has, on average, between four and five children, contributing to an age pyramid with broad base: 43% of the population is under 15.

Most births (73%) are already supervised by someone with experience, but around a quarter of women are still unassisted at the time of giving birth and for every 100,000 births 127 mothers lose their lives in Mozambique – a figure in which, even so, the country is much better off than the average (377) for less developed countries.

It is also estimated that just under a third of Mozambican women aged between 15 and 49 use contraceptives.

On the other hand, Mozambique remains in the group of the five countries in the world with more premature marriages.

The State of World Population report 2023 indicates that, between 2006 and 2022, 53% of Mozambican women aged between 20 and 24, were already married at 18.- a figure well above the average in the group of least developed countries, which is 38%. Only four countries have higher percentages than Mozambique: Central African Republic (CAR), Chad, Mali and Niger.