Control population growth now

IT is time to use drastic measures put in place to control the country’s population growth, otherwise there will be a big problem trying to meet the demand of an increasing inhabitants.
Last month, Prime Minister James Marape told Parliament that no one, including himself, knows the current population of the country.
The higher the population growth, the higher the demand for goods and services – more classrooms, teachers, doctors and nurses.
And it is no hidden fact that Papua New Guinea has been ranked as one of the world’s fastest growing economies by the World Population Review.
PNG, currently, has an estimated population of 8.42 million, which compares to the 2000 census population of 5.19 million is the largest in the Pacific Islands.
The annual growth for PNG has increased steadily from 2.2 per cent in 1980 and currently stands at 3.1 per cent.
Thirty-two percent of PNG’s population is aged between 10 and 24 years: that is two million people.
Having more than 1 million children every four years is unsustainable for any nation, especially in a nation such as PNG where we have huge challenges: infrastructure needs, schools, hospitals, education and roads, and bridges that are needed right across the country.
Yes, it is a challenge as alluded by the prime minister as PNG lacks a family planning plan and many families do not have any form of family planning.
Unbelievable but true, is that PNG does not have a target for population size.
For a country that has celebrated 46 years of independence and going 47, this is not right.
A United Nations Population Fund report “The state of world population 2018” showed that when people make reproductive choices, they decide the size of their families and when to have children.
We can say most of our young generation lack this choice and it can have a long-term effect on fertility rates, often making them higher or lower than what most people desire.
The power to choose the number, timing and spacing of children can bolster economic and social development.
PNG needs a total investment of K82.6 million to reach the committed contraceptive prevalence rate by 2024, a study has shown.
The United Nation Population Fund’s cost-benefit analysis of family planning services in PNG shows that the country is falling short of its family planning commitments.
The report says despite increased efforts, the uptake of voluntary family planning has stagnated in PNG.
This means more investment in family planning is needed.
When contraceptive methods are increased, it will decrease pregnancies and live births and decrease maternal morality and morbidities as well as infant and child morality.
The only way to ensure these methods work is through education, not just any education but quality education from the urban to rural schools.
Our children need to learn and understand the importance of stop making families in quantities and think of the quality it can produce.
We have said in past editorials and will continue to make the stand that quality education highlights a lot of things.
Quality education includes outcomes that encompass knowledge, skills and attitudes.
Unless the young population are educated to a standard to understand the advantages and disadvantages of having children very early in life, the population of PNG will continue to increase as an alarming rate.