Why Africans Shouldn't Talk About Population

The right response to concerns about population growth in low-income countries is emphatically not to say we should cut off aid. As countries industrialize, living standards rise and more people move to cities, fertility rates fall. There is an abundance of evidence that reducing poverty also reduces fertility. Educating girls also reduces fertility; women with secondary education or higher have an average of three children while those with no education have anAverage of seven children. In Guatemala, each additional year a girl spent in school led to an increase of between six and ten months in the age at which she had her first child.