POPULATION BULLETIN OF THE POPULATION REFERENCE BUREAU

United States of America (Washington) 13

DECEMBER 1997 - VOLUME 52, NUMBER 4

98.13.5 - English - Thomas J. GOLIBER

Population and reproductive health in sub-Saharan Africa

Sub-Saharan Africa represents the extremes in many areas. It has some of the world's highest national fertility and mortality rates, fastest growing urban areas, highest illiteracy rates, and the highest prevalence of HIV/AIDS. It is also rich in natural resources and potentially rich in human capital. This Population Bulletin examines the demographic situation in Africa with an emphasis on the region's transition to lower fertility and the devastating effects of the HIV/AIDS epidemic.

Countries in the four major sub-Saharan regions are following somewhat different paths to lower fertility. Fertility has fallen fastest and furthest in southern Africa, in part because of South Africa's strong family planning programs and supportive government policies. Other countries, however, have shown almost no movement toward lower fertility. In general, Africa has not witnessed the reproductive revolution that occurred in much of Asia and Latin America.

Many countries in the region suffer from serious reproductive health problems. The HIV/AIDS epidemic is the most dramatic and most serious. Sub-Saharan Africa contains about two-thirds of the world's HIV-infected people. The adult prevalence rate exceeds 10% in many sub-Saharan countries, especially in southern and eastern Africa.

Other reproductive health problems discussed in this Population Bulletin include the widespread practice of female circumcision, maternal mortality, abortion, and teenage childbearing.

Even with the HIV/AIDS epidemic and high prevalence of other diseases, the region's high birth rates will ensure rapid population growth well into the next century. Sub-Saharan Africa's population is likely to double between 1997 and 2020, from about 614 million to more than 1.1 billion. (AFRICA SOUTH OF SAHARA, POPULATION GROWTH, FERTILITY TRENDS, AIDS, PUBLIC HEALTH)

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