Population Growth If the numbers in Figure 10.1 can be assumed to be correct, the implication would be that the rate at which the Ethiopian population grew annually increased fourteen-fold from 0.2 percent to 2.8 percent between 1900 and the first Population and Housing Census of 1984. The starting rate of 0.2% per year at the dawn of the 20th century when the population was estimated to be country’s just under 12 million implied a doubling time of 140 years while the ending rate of 2.8% translated into a doubling time of only 25.7 years. This represents a massive increase in population on par with very high rates of growth recorded elsewhere, notably in the rest of Africa, and some Middle-Eastern countries. The Ethiopian population doubled (from the 1900 size) in sixty years (rather than 140 years) to reach 23.5 million in 1965, and doubled again in just 25 years to reach 48 million in 1990. The phenomenal growth was fueled by the combined impacts of increased fertility and declining mortality. The total fertility reached a high of 7.7 births in the early 1990s before coming down to 5.9 by the year 2000. Infant mortality dropped from 155 in 1970 to 97 in 2000. [3]. Challenges remain, however, because of [4]: Increased population momentum powered by a rising population growth which continued well into the early 1990s, then leveled off at high level of 2.7%; Lowered mortality, and High rural fertility, which seems to have stalled at a TRF of 6.0, despite much increased CPR [contraceptive prevalence rate] Source: [2] The rates for subsequent years (based on the 1994 census) are as follows: Source [2]
Population Growth If the numbers in Figure 10.1 can be assumed to be correct, the implication would be that the rate at which the Ethiopian population grew annually increased fourteen-fold from 0.2 percent to 2.8 percent between 1900 and the first Population and Housing Census of 1984. The starting rate of 0.2% per year at the dawn of the 20th century when the country’s population was estimated to be just under 12 million implied a doubling time of 140 years while the ending rate of 2.8% translated into a doubling time of only 25.7 years. This represents a massive increase in population on par with very high rates of growth recorded elsewhere, notably in the rest of Africa, and some Middle-Eastern countries. The Ethiopian population doubled (from the 1900 size) in sixty years (rather than 140 years) to reach 23.5 million in 1965, and doubled again in just 25 years to reach 48 million in 1990. The phenomenal growth was fueled by the combined impacts of increased fertility and declining mortality. The total fertility reached a high of 7.7 births in the early 1990s before coming down to 5.9 by the year 2000. Infant mortality dropped from 155 in 1970 to 97 in 2000. [3]. Challenges remain, however, because of [4]: Increased population momentum powered by a rising population growth which continued well into the early 1990s, then leveled off at high level of 2.7%; Lowered mortality, and High rural fertility, which seems to have stalled at a TRF of 6.0, despite much increased CPR [contraceptive prevalence rate] Source: [2] The rates for subsequent years (based on the 1994 census) are as follows: Source [2]