Sun, 22 Nov 2009 Africa

Africa's Population Now Over A Billion

By Daily Graphic

The number of people in Africa has passed the one billion mark, the United Nations Population Fund (UNFP) has said in a report.

UNPF's Executive Director Thoraya Obeid told the BBC that the annual figures showed the continent's population had doubled in the last 27 years.

'Africa countries are all growing fast... because there is large number of women who have no access to planning their families,' she said.

The populations of Nigeria and Uganda were growing the fastest, she said. 'It's an African phenomenon of a large growing population and a large percentage of young people in the population,' she told the BBC's Network Africa programme.

In its State of the World Report, the UNPF said the world's population currently stands at about 6.8 billion.

Africa's population is estimated to reach 1.9 billion by 2050, it said.

Follow our WhatsApp channel for meaningful stories picked for your day.

Comments

Scott | 11/23/2009 5:52:00 PM

Sorry to say, the reason Africa's population is growing is not simply because of the lack of family planning. With greater access to healthcare, Africans mortality rate is reducing, their fertility rate is the same as they go through the demographic transition, that is why it is growing. Once Africa as a whole gains greater control over their economies, and economic opportunities are made available to the people, we will see more family planning, as the various states develop. If it can renegoi...

Comments1