Mozambique: Population growth creates new challenges, Govt. says

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Mozambique: Population growth creates new challenges, Govt. says

7:34 CAT | 27 Aug 2018

File photo: Voa Portugues

Mozambique’s Economy and Finance Minister called for the adoption of development policies that take into account the country’s population growth, noting that the demographic increase of the country imposes new challenges to the Government.

“We understand that the sustainable development of our economy will only be possible if the population is an imperative in the country’s economic and social planning and development processes,” said Adriano Maleiane.

The Economy and Finance Minister was speaking in Maputo at the opening of a conference on population growth in Mozambique, organised by the Ministry of Economy and Finance in coordination with the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA).

According to Maleiane, some of the main challenges facing the Mozambican government with population growth include ensuring access to education and health, as well as employment.

The Minister also said it was necessary to ensure that the country takes advantage of the potential of its overwhelmingly young population.

“This structure of the Mozambican population implies a greater number of people who generate labour and who can produce and pay taxes, leveraging production, productivity and competitiveness,” added the official.

The UNFPA representative in Mozambique, Andreia Wajnar, said she believes that family planning should be the focus of action in Mozambique to avoid unsustainable population growth.

“Rapid population growth makes thousands of young people look for jobs every day and most of them do not find it,” said Wajnar, adding that the pressure on health and education services has been greater.

“This pressure is also compromising the quality of these services themselves,” said Wajnar.

Mozambique has 28.8 million inhabitants, according to the 2017 Census, an additional 8.3 million than in the last population survey ten years earlier.

The Mozambican fertility rate is estimated at an average of 5.9 children per woman, one of the highest in the world.

Among the main causes of high fertility in Mozambique is early first pregnancies and the low use of contraceptive methods.

Source: Lusa