More people

AFRICA: According to a new report, Africa’s population has now passed one billion. With the world’s highest birth rates, the African continent is expected to have two billion people by 2050.

The "2009 World Population Data Sheet", published by the Population Reference Bureau, says that Africa's population is growing by 24 million a year. On average, women in African nations have more children than those in other countries. The global average is 2.6 children; in sub-Saharan Africa, women have 5.3 children. In Niger, women have 7.4 children, more than anywhere else in the world.

Nearly half of the people in Uganda are younger than age 15.

The report illustrates the resulting shifts in populations' age structure by comparing Uganda, which currently has a population of 31 million and Canada, which currently has 34 million. By 2050 Canada will have grown to 42 million, while Uganda's population will have more than tripled to 96 million. Currently, about 14 per cent of Canadians, but only 3 per cent of Ugandans, are over age 65. However, while just one in six Canadians is under age 15, nearly half of the people in Uganda (49 per cent) are younger than 15.

In contrast to many developed nations, which have ageing societies, the countries of Africa will have to accommodate growing numbers of young people in in the coming decades. The report says, "This very large group will arrive at working age with a right to expect gainful employment, adequate health care, and the ability to raise a family with an appropriate living standard if they so choose."