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Renowned economist, Andrews Kwame Pianim has highlighted the importance of population control to Ghana’s development.
Speaking on JoyNews’ PM Express, Mr Pianim underscored the repercussions of unchecked population growth, stating, “If you don’t modulate your population, you’ll have more mouths to feed, impacting education, infrastructure, and more.”
Drawing attention to the current annual population growth rate of 2.1%, he projected that by 2057, Ghana’s population could reach 69 million.
He expressed concern about the challenges of accommodating such a population, and suggested that with strategic management, Ghana could aim for a more sustainable figure.
“You cannot develop with a high population growth rate. That is impossible. No nation has developed with an annual population growth rate of 2 percent or more,” he said on Wednesday.
He highlighted the correlation between wealth, education, and lower fertility rates, emphasizing the need for more controlled population growth to achieve development goals.
“The problem is this, if you don’t modulate your population, you have more mouths to feed, education, and infrastructure for the people. And when I tried to do our population, 2057, how big will we be? If we go on the trend that we are on, a 2.1 per cent annual rate of growth, we will be almost 70 million, 69 million people. Where are we going to put all these 69 million people?
Then if we modulate it slightly, we’re about 52. But with a little bit more robust management, we will come to 45. I think 45 million we can live with in 2057.”
He further emphasised the economic challenges faced by households with large numbers of children, drawing parallels to the national scenario.
Mr Pianim concluded by cautioning that without addressing population growth, initiatives like Free Senior High School (SHS) could strain the national budget in the future.
He called for proactive measures to modulate population growth, asserting that a well-managed and controlled population is integral to Ghana’s sustainable development.
Ghana’s current high fertility rate and declining mortality, have kept the annual growth rate at around 2.1%.
To change the current development trajectory, Mr Pianim said Ghana needs “to lower the annual rate of population growth from 2.1% and our women cannot continue to average six children.
No nation has developed with an annual population growth rate of 2% and above” he cautioned.
