The wealth of a nation is in its people, said the President of Uganda on World Population Day last month. “I do not agree with the alarmism over the high rate of population growth,” Yoweri Museveni said in a speech read by another minister at a gathering in Kampala. “What we need to do is to educate our children, give them skills and create an enabling environment for employment and job creation. That way we shall create wealth, make savings and Ugandans will invest and spur productivity and growth.”

The government is currently expanding the education system, said the president. “As our society becomes more middle class, the family size will shrink. That is the natural way of dealing with population, instead of keeping Africa under-populated,” Museveni added. “Uganda has got much more natural resources than either the UK or Japan [which have bigger and more affluent populations]. How can we fail to cope with a population of 30 million or the subsequent increases?” Uganda’s birth rate is estimated at 6.81 children per woman. ~ AllAfrica.com, July 14