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The Shape of Things to Come: The Effects of Age Structure on Development
April 2, 2010
Today, the world has the largest generation of young people in history, with 3.6 billion people under the age of 30 worldwide. A population’s age structure (the relative size of each age group) deeply affects development opportunities and plays a major role in security and governance challenges. In 2007, Population Action International (PAI) published The Shape of Things to Come: Why Age Structure Matters to a Safer, More Equitable World. Here, PAI updates and extends the analysis. Three case studies on Haiti, Yemen and Uganda examine the challenges specific to countries with very young age structures and recommend policy solutions.
The Effects of A Very Young Age Structure In Uganda: A Country Case Study
April 1, 2010
Uganda has the youngest age structure in the world, with 77 percent of its population under the age of 30. The population of Uganda is currently growing by about one million people per year, and given the force of demographic momentum, Uganda will see high rates of population growth for decades to come. Uganda’s demographic situation impacts all aspects of its development, from economic growth to quality of education to health care provisions. Governance, political stability, security and adaptation to climate change are also deeply influenced by demographic mechanisms.
The Effects of a Very Young Age Structure in Yemen: A Country Case Study
April 1, 2010
Yemen has broken into the global political scene, with periodic terrorist attacks against foreign targets and its location as a base for al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula highlighting the country’s geopolitical significance. Yemen has the most youthful age structure in the world outside of sub-Saharan Africa, and its demographic situation is acknowledged by its government and external partners alike as a major challenge to the country’s continued development.
The Effects of a Very Young Age Structure on Haiti: A Country Case Study
April 1, 2010
The devastating earthquake that struck Haiti in early January 2010 adds to the string of misfortunes in a country used to fighting adversity. Political instability and repeated natural disasters have compounded a failure to invest in its human resources and its environment and have prevented the country from achieving a sustainable development path. Haiti’s demographic profile, most notably its very young age structure, affects all aspects of reconstruction efforts, from economic opportunities to security issues, political stability, gender equality and climate change adaptation.
The Shape of Things to Come - Why Age Structure Matters To A Safer, More Equitable World
April 11, 2007
The Shape of Things to Come provides valuable new insights into the programs and investments that can make countries "healthier"-more stable and peaceful, more democratic, and better able to provide for the needs of their citizens. It places all countries into one of four major age structures with attendant characteristics, benefits and risks associated with governance, security and economic development.
Fewer or More? The Real Story of Global Population
April 2, 2007
The phrase population crisis once roused fears of uncontrollable growth in human numbers. However, now that many societies have improved women's status and increased access to family planning, some analysts argue that if there is a population crisis it is because women are having too few children-a so-called birth dearth. A quick look at the demographic reality shows that the era of population growth is far from over-and high fertility rates are still prevalent in many developing countries.
Why Population Age Structure Matters To A Safer, More Equitable World
April 2, 2007
Population age structure-the comparative size of specific age groups relative to the population as a whole-can help illustrate where countries' risks and opportunities lie in relation to critical issues such as democracy, development and security. In fact, the influence of age structure on a state's governance, risk of an outbreak of civil conflict, and economic development is both significant and quantifiable. Given these linkages, investments in family planning, infant and maternal health, education and economic opportunities for girls, women and young people can vastly affect the shape of things to come.
Demographic Development - Reversing Course?
November 1, 2006
With the largest population in Africa, Nigeria's political and economic developments reverberate across the continent. Nigeria chairs the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) and is the eighth largest oil exporting country in the world. More than 40 percent of the region's gross domestic product is accounted for by Nigeria's economy, and the petroleum industry is responsible for about two-thirds of national revenue and a great deal of international interest in the country. Yet the government maintains a delicate hold on democracy, and the country has recently experienced political instability. Throughout 2006, militant rebels angry about the distribution of
oil revenue have conducted a series of attacks against the industry, including kidnapping foreign workers, which resulted in the country's petroleum output dropping by 25 percent.
How Shifts To Smaller Family Sizes Contributed To The Asian Miracle
July 3, 2006
Economists credit declining fertility, from the mid-1960s to the early 1990s, as a major contributor to sustained economic growth among the Asian Tigers - the economically vibrant nations of South Korea, Taiwan, Thailand, Singapore, Indonesia, Malaysia and the former Hong Kong Territory. Research indicates that shifts to smaller family sizes and slower rates of population growth played a key role in the creation of an educated workforce, the accumulation of household and government savings, the rise in wages, and the impressive growth of investments in manufacturing technology.
How Access to Sexual and Reproductive Health Services is Key to the MDGs
September 1, 2005
The Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) offer precise targets for reducing poverty and promoting global development, but they remain incomplete if they do not build from and incorporate the objectives of other major international agreements, particularly those reached at the International Conference on Population and Development (ICPD) and the Fourth World Conference on Women (Beijing). At the 2005 World Summit and in the years leading to the 2015 milestone, the sexual and reproductive health community is taking every opportunity to advance this message: universal access to sexual and reproductive health services is essential to achieving the MDGs.
