Education is a cure-all

It’s official. The World Population Report 2007 released on June 27, revealed that Ethiopia has this year surpassed Egypt to become Africa’s second most populous nation. Congratulations are hardly in order as Ethiopia’s high rate of population growth has been patently unsustainable for the last two decades.
Our nation’s population is doubling with increasing intensity. Research shows that from the first ever census taken in the early 1940’s, Ethiopia’s population stood at 16 million and then doubled to 36 million in 1974. Thirty plus years later in 2006-2007, we have nearly tripled to 81.2 million.
Is our country in danger of propagating itself to oblivion? Why is the national growth rate so high? How are other nations controlling population growth? Finding answers to such questions will not be a simple matter as indeed, some would argue in favor of increased population.
In fact, there are a vocal many who actually support the idea of a nation expanding in population in order to utilize numbers as a resource base.
In this regard, it will be prudent to examine the population records of the two most populous countries -China and India- whom together comprise 40% of world population. Up to 1975, China was actually quite proud of its sheer numbers and regarded its multitudes as a strategic asset. It was only after the death of Mao Tse-Tung’ that an about-face was made, introducing the extremely radical step of the one-child-per-family policy which is still in force. China realized a quarter century ago that it must control its population if it is to prosper at all. What are the results?
China has stabilized population growth but has fallen under the very real and even scarier threat of a rapidly ageing population – something the Japanese lament already. Japan is the world’s ‘oldest’ nation and within 5 years will have the dreaded employee to pensioner ratio imbalance. China is also amidst a severe gender imbalance with more boys born than girls. Whatever we may think of China’s actions to control its population, they are all specific to that country’s unique situation.
India on the other hand, is expected to be the world’s most populous country by 2025 but has not formulated a harsh birth control regime as has its northern rival. Instead, India is moving in the empowerment mode, realizing that the best way of controlling rampant population growth is to bring as much prosperity to as many people as possible. Education is the best birth control, as proven in all the nations that have managed to provide their societies with sustained economic success. By 2050, India’s working population will exceed that of the USA’s and China’s combined workforce. Therefore, what India has accomplished is like the proverbial killing of two birds with one stone-that is, ensure birthrates fall through development but still retain a relatively young population.
Ethiopia’s population boom crisis is perversely fueled by a vicious cycle of poverty that regards children as the most available asset. This urge to have as many children as possible is also a reflection of the high infant mortality rate, which is one of the world’s highest. Another major contributing factor is the still pervasive practice of early marriage. This archaic custom, widespread in the rural areas, increases the lifetime birthing age of women and has given Ethiopia a high fertility rate which reveals itself in statistical data.
High infant mortality and even higher fertility rates are manifestations of a lack of the proven international formula for population control which is universal education with a focus on rural women’s schooling.
According to figures obtained from the Demographic and Health Survey of Ethiopia, girls and women with no education have on average, 6.1 births in their lifetime. Women with a primary school education on the other hand, have 5.1 children with the fertility rates for high school or above educated women falling to just 2.0.
An educated society is by default a self-regulating population. As education paves the way for development and improved access to health care and the other amenities of life, the infant mortality rate will drop – meaning less pressure on women to bear replacement children.
There are commendable steps being taken by the state and also by NGOs that are particularly targeted at raising women’s awareness of their rights in regard to child bearing and their equitable place in society.
Such measures, along with expanded education, will surely control Ethiopia’s population growth. Otherwise, if we continue growing at this rate, it is projected that in 2025 there will be an astounding 110 million Ethiopians. Let’s educate our way out of this unsustainable and truly frightening scenario.