Thursday, March 24

POP Goes Africa

According to a population factsheet published bythe Population Reference Bureau:
  1. The top 15 HIV/AIDS Prevalence Countries, at the end 0f 2003, are all in Africa (Zambia is 7th). Haiti is the top-ranked, non-African country.
  2. "Developing countries will far outpace developed countries in population growth because of a young age structure as well as higher birth rates." (Sub-Saharan Africa shows a ratio of children aged 15 and under to those over 65 of 44:3). How will this affect politics, the economy, hegemony, etc.?
  3. Zambia's "total fertility rate" -- the average number of children born to a woman during her lifetime -- is 5.6. (Much of Eastern Europe posts rates of around 1.2; Afghanistan is 6.8; Somalia is 7.1).