Population is power.
A large population favors production and consumption by providing a huge domestic market for goods and services that stimulates and benefits economic growth, job creation and government tax revenues.
In regard to the above, I have been wondering about the number of babies I want and whether the resources to take care of them to become an asset to the country as a population. You see I have a son (read nephew), if you have been on my instagram you have seen him. A very adorable human being, I totally wish I could carry him to all my multipotentialite meetings and look at him to recover from all the stress the job imposes. Anyway, I have been thinking maybe he is just enough and no other children should follow him, this is because I think this country is running out resources to cater for my other humans.
Please don’t come at me with that African saying of each child comes with a blessing of their own, I have held this situation constant with no outside interference.
According to this list of highest birth rates in the world; mother Uganda was among the first 10 countries, it was ranked number 3 with 43.4 births per 1000 population, and the death rate is 10.4 deaths per 1000 population while our GDP is $84.93 billion (2016 est). While our total dependency ratio is 102.3% and majority of these people are the youth whose ratio is at 97.3%.
That means some one might have already given birth to my children. And that we as a country are not producing enough finished goods and services alongside our big population.
As a youth who created her own job, I am among the 97.3% young people still depending, and my Uber receipts can ascertain to this. I visit my parents every other weekend, not mainly to see them; but to eat their food, pack some for my house and bank on getting some small pocket charge to boost my wallet weight.
Our economic burden undermines the quality of nutrition, healthcare, education and general standard for our lives. We are all struggling, and this makes me wonder; how hard our children will struggle. I have to do the best for my son but even with that he might enjoy somethings, like the high expensive education which requires me to sell my kidney.
This is why I think trending to the one child policy just like China, India, Iran and others is my best option and for some others. After all we are a disruptive generation and its not like the government is paying any child support or providing any welfare.
After the birth rate spike in the 1960s caused a significant jump in China’s population, the government introduced the one-child policy (also known as the “Family Planning Policy”) in 1979 as a means to alleviate the social, economic and environmental problems caused by the country’s rapidly growing population.
As of 2007, about 36% of the Chinese population were subject to a strict one-child limit; 53% were permitted to have a second child if their first was a daughter; 10% of Chinese couples were permitted two children under special circumstances (such as physical or mental disability of one child); and roughly 1% of the population — mainly from ethnic minorities — had no limit at all.
Under the policy, families could be fined thousands of dollars (known as a “social maintenance fee”) for having more children beyond the official limit.
As a result of this population control policy, up to 250 million births were prevented in China, and the country’s income per-capita rose nearly 350% — from $2,250 in 1979 to $10,093 in 2015.
In 2016, the Chinese government finally relaxed the 37-year policy, allowing one-child couples to have one additional child.thank God for the gift of live.
Above everything else, I have to thank God for life. Have you seen our death rate? Even with the poor services and infrastructure, we are not dying as fast as it looks; 10.4 deaths per 1000 population.
Discover more from Patricia Kahill's Cogitations
Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.