Concern At Tongan Population Growth
(N.Z. Press Association—Copyright)
NUKUALOFA (Tonga), December 7.
Much trouble lay ahead for Tonga unless the size of families was reduced, Queen Mataaho told a crowded conference on family planning at Nukualofa yesterday.
She warned that Tonga’s population had reached “alarming proportions.” The Queen was opening a seminar on maternal and child health and family planning sponsored jointly'by the Government and the South Pacific Commission. She said: “Uncontrolled family growth can only result in greater misery, a declining
standard of living, and eventual political, social, economic and moral upheaval. “At the present rate of 3i per cent increase per annum the population of nearly 80,000 would double in 24 years, and with the acute shortage of land area this is a serious problem requiring immediate action.”
Family planning was not a policy of despair but one of many ways of advancing people’s health, prosperity and happiness, a policy of the greatest significance to Tonga, in which the Government, churches, schools, youth clubs, clinics and the home had vital roles to play, the Queen said.
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Bibliographic details
Press, Volume CVII, Issue 31549, 11 December 1967, Page 15
Word Count
178Concern At Tongan Population Growth Press, Volume CVII, Issue 31549, 11 December 1967, Page 15
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