Taux de croissance démographique et développement économique en Afrique noire

Abstract

Mortality rates have sharply decreased in Africa during the past 2 decades. Such phenomenon has been accompanied by an increase in birth rates due not only to decreased mortality, but to the disappearance of infertility causes, to urbanization, which eliminates many sexual taboos, and to increased monogamy, which produces more chidlren than poligamy. The ideal family size desired has also decreased since, in a modern society, children are no longer seen as income producing but as income consuming agents. The use of contraception in Africa is secondary to 2 conditions, i.e. information and motivation. If information is easily obtained through the mass media, motivation depends not only on individual psychological factors, but on global social factors, the most important of which is economic development; without increased incomes there will be no widespread acceptance of contraception, since increased income involves almost automatically a change in values, from traditional ones, to modern ones. Improvement in the educational level of the population would hasten the process.