THE country is considering ways to limit families to having just three children in a bid to stop its booming population from overwhelming public services, Prime Minister James Marape said.
China for decades had enforced a “one child” policy to curb population growth before ending it in 2016, while nations such as Vietnam and Iran have experimented with measures to limit families to two kids.
Official figures place Papua New Guinea among the world’s fastest-growing countries, although population estimates have long been clouded by unreliable census data in the South Pacific nation.
Marape said limiting families to three children would “curtail uncontrolled demographic expansion”.
“This is to ensure that there is prevention of unplanned pregnancies and births, and families will be encouraged to have no more than three children,” he said on Monday while touring a hospital.
It was not immediately clear what Marape’s family planning policy would entail.
Papua New Guinea has an official population of around 10 million people.
But some analysts suggest the figure could be much higher, given the difficulties counting people scattered throughout the nation’s dense forests and rugged hills.
Papua New Guinea’s government statistics office estimates the country’s average annual population growth rate at 2.6%, while the National Research Institute puts the more recent rate at about 3%, suggesting that the population is expanding at a faster pace.
The United Arab Emirates has the highest population growth rate in the world at 4.7%, according to the World Bank. — AFP
