Population growth fastest in Africa, India not far behind

Tuesday, July 29 1997

Population growth fastest in Africa, India not far behind

HANOVER, July 28: The population of Africa is set to grow faster than anywhere else in the world, says American expert Carl Haub.Haub, who is the scientific director of the Population Reference Bureau in Washington said that the only question was whether the number of people on the continent would multiply threefold, fivefold or even sevenfold.

``African women still have six children on an average, almost twice as many as the average Asian woman. Countries like Zimbabwe, Kenya and Botswana, where the population had accepted the idea of family planning, were showing their first successes'',he said.``In the Islamic countries of north Africa too, women are bringing only four children into the world these days.

This shows that Islam has nothing to do with the rejection of family planning'', he added.Since Ayatollah Khomeini's death in 1989, Iran's birth rate had sunk faster than any other country's during the same period.

Haub believes that India, which according to U N forecasts will in future replace China as the world's most populous country, is set to reach two or even three billion inhabitants. ``We had to adjust our original growth forecasts for India upwards, because the death rate suddenly began to decline more slowly'', he said.

India currently has around 3.5 children per family.In China on the other hand, the rigid population policy is taking effect. At 1.8 children per family, China is currently behind even the U S with two children per family.Haub said that the population in most industrial states is slowly declining. At the bottom of the list is Italy with only 1.2 children per family.

After the collapse of the Soviet Union, the number of children per family in Russia fell from 2.2 to 1.3. The reason is clear: the economic situation is terrible, the prospects gloomy.

However, the average German family has just as few children as the Russian.Haub is sure that the world population in the year 2000 will be 6.1 billion. At some stage, however, the world population will cease growing, for in his view, developing countries will have no choice but to practice birth control.