The latest census figures for Malawi were just released with the shocking news that Malawi's population has grown to over 13 million. It is a surprise because of the devastation HIV/AIDS has brought with up to 80,000 annual deaths of people in their reproductive years attributed to 'the thinning disease.' What this means is that the population splurge is coming from the next generation, from those in the 13-21 age bracket.
Visiting one of our Livelihoods programmes in a rural district called Phalombe, I was struck by the huge number of children under five roaming about. I saw what I thought were sisters carrying siblings on their backs: it turns out these were the mothers.
The radical depletion of a productive population, and the subsequent burden on girls to a) quit school to help at home; b) get married and leave the village; or c) sell their bodies for food and medicine, has created a totally new and worrisome demographic. Many of these girls – for that is what they are – are uneducated, lack skills and may have several children from serial fathers as that is the only way they have to find temporary security.
One shudders at the prospects ahead: more children entering a school system where there are already primary classes with over 100 children, no books and poorly qualified teachers; more mouths to feed on an overused land base; further destruction of the remaining forests; and rapid urbanization into cities without any basic services.
One reaction is to blame the victim. How can people be so short-sighted as to threaten the very basis of their social, economic and political lives? Why can't people see that a decrease in the birth rate is mandatory? Many answers can be given, including cultural traditions and ill-advised interventions by the Bush Administration which decreased or cut aid to international family planning agencies that allow (under very strict protocols) abortion.
But the real issue is poverty. Many Canadians boast of their grandparents having eight or 10 children. I was born into a family of four; Linda and I have three children; our children, like many of their generation, will weigh their options and may prefer adoption. At the Blantyre Synod Development Commission our managers who have university degrees have one to three children. The watchman has eight and would like some more.
Poverty in an unjust economic system (and is this just a market correction or the judgement of God?) is the real cause of the population explosion and its attendant threats to our world.
