, most welcome to the community! Uganda blackouts 'fuel baby boom' !!!
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That is what a government minister was giving as the reason for the current very high population growth rate (ca. 3.4%). According to him, quoted from BBC News Africa,
Uganda's population explosion is being fuelled by electricity shortages which lead couples to go to bed early and have sex, a minister has said.
"While the rest of the world is working in shifts, we in Uganda are going to bed early," said Planning Minister Ephraim Kamuntu.
"Then we complain that the population is growing. Why not?"
I just disagree with him on some small point. Most of the population lives in rural areas & have no access to electricity and so do not go to bed because of power cuts, but because of other reasons, including saving on kerosene used for lanterns, I think. 
I think what he says is definitely one of the reasons and I am glad a government minister is acknowledging such a population growth rate as problem.
A poll on this subject has just been added, after I read this editorial on 9th Nov in the New Vision: http://www.newvision.co.ug/D/8/14/700600
This was in today's New Vision, http://allafrica.com/stories/200911120158.html, just 2 days later where there is talk of
- "Experts Fear Population Explosion in Country"
I think the population growth rate is quite pathetic, whatever the reasons behind it.
Something will only change, however when politicians and other leaders recognize it as such, talk about and come up with working solutions.
It's true with increasing literacy and education in general, things are slowly changing as younger educated couples are having less & less kids, but real change will come when a concerted campaign such as someone has suggested - like the anti-AIDS campaign is initiated & implemented from up. It should be taken to rural areas where most of the most "productive" & "vulnerable" folks live.
Here is an interesting quote from the New Vision of 17th August, 2009
The high population growth rate and corruption remain critical issues in Uganda, the chairman of the Africa Peer Review Mechanism (APRM), Bishop Zac Niringiye, has said.
'High population growth is critical, especially when most of the population is not involved in production,' Niringiye said.
...
Uganda, according to the report, has the third highest population growth (3.2%) in the world. The country’s population is estimated at 30 million and is projected to hit 103 million by 2050.
This was again in the news ... in today's New Vision:
http://allafrica.com/stories/200911160957.html