Population Policy

• What will happen during the 21st centaury?

• Will economic and social development progress more
rapidly than population growth?
• Will the world find that it can support much larger
numbers than it does at present?
• What is known for certain is that an elementary
knowledge of population will continue to be key to
understanding human behavior and anticipating changes.
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 Cont…

• Problems in developing countries can be traced to

population growth.
• Here rising number of population growth does not rise the
demand for consumer goods b/c of their low purchasing
power.
• The market here is unorganized ,unskilled and low wage.
• Agricultural surplus are low.

• Therefore, they do not enjoy comparative advantage of the

international trade. 2
 Cont…
• A policy is a set of government statements and actions that are
designed to influence the behavior of the people in order to achieve a
desired outcome
• Government actions can be categorized into five broad policy
instruments
• The Policy Instruments of Government:

♦ Information
♦ Laws and regulations

♦ Taxes and price controls

♦ Direct spending/investments
♦ Research 3
 Definition of population policy
• Definition: Population policies to influence population growth
and distribution involve a wide range of decisions and actions by
governments, both direct and indirect, which influence individual
and family decisions regarding marriage and childbearing,
working arrangements, place of residence, etc.
• Types of Population Policies:

♦ Direct or explicit – government actions taken for the purpose of

affecting a demographic outcome , e.g., migration laws
♦ Indirect or implicit – government actions that only indirectly have
some demographic effects, e.g., promoting female education
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 Cont…
• Explicit versus Implicit Policies. Example: Slowing
Population Growth
• Explicit Policies
– Provide free family planning services
– Increase taxes for each additional child
– Restrict immigration
– Raise the age of marriage
• Implicit policies
– Compulsory secondary education
– Restrict child labor
– Limit size of houses
– Raise status of women
– Provide old age security 5
Rationale for Adopting Population Policies
♦ To change the future prospects of a
country, specifically:
– To enhance economic development

– To improve social welfare

– To improve individual welfare

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 National population policy of Ethiopia
• Population policy may be defined as deliberately
constructed or modified institutional arrangements and/or
specific programs through which governments influence,
directly or indirectly, demographic change.
• A country where things are good and running smoothly –
strong economy, society in harmony, optimal population
numbers relative to available resources, abundant natural
resources and favorable climate, etc – does not need a
population policy because nothing needs to change.
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 Cont…

• Experiences in Ethiopia have shown that as human

numbers increased, the population carrying capacity of
the environment decreased. A high population growth
rate induces increased demand for resources and the
rate at which these resources are exploited.

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 Cont....
• In Ethiopia, where technology has not kept pace with
the demands for greater productivity, environmentally
harmful and economically counterproductive methods
of exploiting land and associated resources ( forests,
animal resources, etc.) are resorted to in order to meet
immediate needs. As a consequence of this, climatic
conditions are becoming erratic and soil quality is
declining at an alarming rate.
 Rationale for a national population policy

 Ethiopia needed a population policy for a number of

reasons:
 Population growth has outpaced economic growth for
much of the last half century. Resulting in low
productivity in almost all sectors of the economy which
in turn caused unemployment, underemployment and
poverty.

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 Cont…

 Traditional ways of resource-utilization have led to the

near-destruction of the environment in lands long
settled by sedentary agriculturalist, particularly in the
northern half of the country.
 Low accessibility of basic social services such as
education, health, housing, etc;
 The perennial problem of food insecurity affecting
many parts of the country;

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 Cont…
 High prevalence of maternal, infant and child
morbidity and mortality problems that are partially
attributed to the low status of women and fertility; and
 Low life expectancy at birth.

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 In 1993 the Ethiopian government has formulated
the national population policy to bring population
growth rates in line with other policy targets and
achieve socio economic advancement.
 PRIORITY AREAS OF POPULATION ACTIVITIES

Diversifying and expanding the coverage of national

family planning through clinical and community-based
outreach services;
Enabling and supporting the role and participation of
non-governmental organizations in the delivery of
family planning and related services;

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Creating an enabling environments that will give
users the widest possible choice of family planning
and contraceptive services by diversifying the
methods-mix and by making them available
throughout the country.
Population research, data collection and
dissemination;
Expansion and strengthening of domestic capacity
for training in population; and
Expansion of Information, Education, and
Communication (IEC) activities and social
mobilization.
 The general objectives of National
Population Policy of Ethiopia
Closing the gap between high population growth and low
economic productivity through planned reduction of population
growth and increasing economic returns

Expediting economic and social development processes through

holistic integrated development to promote much employment
opportunities;

Reducing the rate of rural and urban migration;

Maintaining/improving the carrying capacity of the environment

by taking appropriate environmental conservation measures;
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 Cont…
Raising the economic and social status of women by
freeing them from restrictions and drudgeries of
traditional life;

Significantly improving the social and economic

status of vulnerable groups (women, children, youth
and the elderly).
The overall objective is matching the country's natural
resource with the population growth rate.
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 Specific Objectives
Reducing the total fertility rate (estimated at 7.7 in 1993) to
approximately 4.0 children per woman by the year 2015;

Reducing maternal mortality rates, infant mortality and

childhood morbidity and mortality
Boosting female participation at all levels of the educational
system;

Ensuring property rights and access to gainful employment for

women by removing all legal and customary practices militating
against the social and economic advancement of women;
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 Cont…
Ensuring spatially balanced population distribution
patterns with a view to maintaining environmental security
and extending the scope of development activities;

Raising agricultural productivity and introducing off-farm

non agricultural activities and income to ensure
employment diversification;

Educating the public about the virtues of small families

and the relationship it has with social welfare, economic
security, and environmental sustainability.
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 STRATEGIES
• Mobilizing public and private resources to expand clinical
and community based contraceptive distribution services;
• Promoting the virtues of breast feeding as an effective
remedy to early childhood malnutrition and as natural
contraceptive method to space pregnancies.
• Increasing the minimum age at marriage for girls to 18
years in place of the current lower limit of 15.
• Implementation of effective counseling services for females
in the educational system with the view to reducing the high
drop-out rates; 21
 Cont…
• Provision of career counseling for girls in secondary and tertiary
educational institutions to enable them to make appropriate career
choices;
• Striving to achieve a better integration of women in the modern
sector of the economy;
• Providing technical and credit support to men and women who
have the desire and aptitude for engaging in small to medium sized
businesses;
• Enabling families to acquire and put to use the education and
information widely available via formal and informal media;
• 22
 Cont…

• Provision of low cost radio receivers and other media tools such as
flyers to disseminate knowledge better.
• Amending sections of the law limiting or prohibiting the
advertisement, propagation and popularization of contraceptive
methods;
• Incorporation of gender issues and concerns in all activities by
establishing within government and non-governmental
organizations, appropriate units to deal with these issues;
• Giving priority to the establishment of teenage and youth
reproductive health services, and counseling centers.
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 Cont…

• Enabling research program development in

reproductive health;
• Strengthening programs designed to promote
male involvement in family planning;
• Increasing the availability of and access to
male-oriented contraceptive methods.

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Have planned family

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