The soaring population of Zambia
There’s a lot of media coverage of population issues at the moment because the UN estimates that the world population will reach 7 billion on 31 October 2011. Obviously in absolute numbers, population growth in China and India is grabbing the headlines. However, in percentage terms, the greatest rise is likely to be in Zambia.
According to the UN, the current population of Zambia is 13 million, but by the end of the century it is estimated to reach around 140 million – a percentage rise of almost 1,000%. This is because women in Zambia have an average of 6.2 children, a figure that has hardly changed in decades.
Seven years ago, Vee and I visited Zambia to see Victoria Falls [my account here]. We befriended our hotel maid Mutinta who has since graduated as a teacher and we are still in regular contact with her. Zambia is going to have a lot of children to educate and more seriously mouths to feed.
More information here.