I am willing to
concede that Africa faces many a predicament but my point was that most of the world does.
The famous "If the world
population was reduced to a village of 100 people" anecdote comes to mind (* indicates the stats I'm referring
to).
Quote:There would be:
57 Asians
21 Europeans
14 from the Western Hemisphere (North
andSouth America)
8 Africans
52 would be female
48 would be male
70 would be non white, 30 white
70 would
be non-Christian, 30 would be Christian
89 would be heterosexual, 11 homosexual
*59% of the entire world's wealth
would be in the hands of only 6 people *and all 6 would be citizens of the United States
*80 would live in substandard
housing
*70 would be unable to read
*50 would suffer from malnutrition
*1 would be near death, 1 would be near
birth
*Only 1 would have a college education and
*Only 1 would own a computer.
That is a
rough estimate.
And while Africa has it's problems I don't think that apocalyptic
statement is true. Here are the stats.
Estimates for these countries explicitly take into account the effects of
excess mortality due to AIDS; this can result in lower life expectancy, higher infant mortality and death rates, lower
population and growth rates, and changes in the distribution of population by age and sex than would otherwise be expected
(July 2001 est.)
Quote:South Africa
Population growth rate: 0.26% (2001 est.)
Birth rate:
21.12 births/1,000 population (2001 est.)
Death rate: 16.77 deaths/1,000 population (2001 est.)
Senegal
Population growth rate: 2.93% (2001 est.)
Birth rate: 37.46 births/1,000 population (2001 est.)
Death rate: 8.35 deaths/1,000 population (2001 est.)
Botswana
Population growth rate: 0.47% (2001 est.)
Birth rate: 28.85 births/1,000 population (2001 est.)
Death rate: 24.18 deaths/1,000 population (2001 est.)
Zimbabwe
Population growth rate: 0.15% (2001 est.)
Birth rate: 24.68 births/1,000 population (2001 est.)
Death rate: 23.22 deaths/1,000 population (2001 est.)
Namibia
Population growth rate: 1.38% (2001 est.)
Birth rate: 34.71 births/1,000 population (2001 est.)
Death rate: 20.9 deaths/1,000 population (2001 est.)
Zambia
Population growth rate: 1.93% (2001 est.)
Birth rate: 41.46 births/1,000 population (2001 est.)
Death rate: 21.97 deaths/1,000 population (2001 est.)
Swaziland
Population growth rate: 1.83% (2001 est.)
Birth rate: 40.12 births/1,000 population (2001 est.)
Death rate: 21.84 deaths/1,000 population (2001 est.)
Sierra Leone
Population growth rate: 3.61% (2001 est.)
Birth rate: 45.11 births/1,000 population (2001 est.)
Death rate: 19.19 deaths/1,000 population (2001 est.)
Nigeria
Population growth rate: 2.61% (2001 est.)
Birth rate: 39.69 births/1,000 population (2001 est.)
Death rate: 13.91 deaths/1,000 population (2001 est.)
Niger
Population growth rate: 2.72% (2001 est.)
Birth rate: 50.68 births/1,000 population (2001 est.)
Death rate: 22.71 deaths/1,000 population (2001 est.)
I got bored of typing but you can
get a picture, below you can compare this to the world averages:
Population growth rate: 1.25% (2001 est.)
Birth
rate: 21.37 births/1,000 population (2001 est.)
Death rate: 8.93 deaths/1,000 population (2001 est.)
Bottom line
is that there are no African countries with a decline in population. A decline in population is, in most cases, desirable.