Kenya now top in population growth

Press, 1 October 1979, Page 32

Kenya now top in population growth

By ALASTAIR MATHESON in Nairobi Kenyans have just learned, with shock and some disbelief, that their country has the highest birth rate in the world. While , some industrialised nations have reached zero population growth and most Third World countries have been able to lower their birthrate to between 2 per cent and 3 per cent, Kenya’s, after hovering around 3.5 per cent for many years, has suddenly risen to 3.8 per cent. Some calculations put the figure at 4 per cent. The figures, obtained in a population census in August, have still to be confirmed but already President Daniel Arap Moi and the Foreign Minister (Dr Munyua Waiyaki) have sounded the alarm. The question of family planning, birth control, or “spacing” is a controversial subject in Kenya, as in most developing states. Attempts by well meaning, Western-based organisations to urge couples to have smaller families are often resented and even ascribed to ulterior political motives. Some say that Kenya is no worse than many other African states, only that it has one of the best statistical services in the continent. Kenya’s health services are also better than most, resulting in a much lower infant-mortal-ity rate. Most modem contraceptive methods are widely known in Kenya, especially the pill, but only II per cent of married women use modern devices and only 29 per cent have tried traditional tribal methods. This nevertheless is an improvement on 1977, when a poll revealed that a mere 4 per cent were using contraceptives. According to the latest fertility survey, most Kenyan women feel they can

never have enough children. Statistically the average woman has 8.1 children. This, too, is one of the highest rates in the world. In some parts of Kenya the local average is 10 children. The country’s familyplanning campaign began 15 years ago but it is no secret that some leading Kenyans, irlcluding the late President Jomo Kenyatta. have not been convinced of the need for limiting population growth. Dr Julia Ojiambo, Assistant Minister for Social Services, told an international population conference in Sri Lanka in August that Kenya’s main problem was a lack of arable land, not too many people. But. she foresees problems when the under-15s, who make up almost half of Kenya’s estimated 14 million people, enter the labour market. Only 6 per cent of women questioned for the poll said they wanted fewer than four children. The over-all wish is for a family of six or seven: younger women want five or six and older women eight or nine. Nearly one-third of Kenyan women live in polygamous marriages, some in homes where there are three or more wives. That means a man can father 30 or more children and male vanity certainly plays a role in the high figures. As in most. African countries, women see child-bearing as their main function. But the more educated they become, the fewer children they want. Polygamy, however, has an influence on their desire for children because the wife producing the most is usually the husband’s favourite while a barren wife is an object of derision among other women and can be good grounds for divorce or “sending her back home.” —O.F.N.S. Copyright.