Youthful population : The Gambia

Question 1

Define ‘youthful population’.

Answer 1

A population with a high proportion of people under the age of 16. ( young dependents ).

Question 2

Define ‘young dependents’.

Answer 2

Number or the percentage of the population under the age of 14. They are dependent on adults, who are economically active, and the government.

Question 3

Causes of a youthful population :

1) High birth rates / Lack of contraceptives

Answer 3

• 95% of the country’s population is Muslim, meaning that the religion encourages larger families, polygamous marriages, and discourages contraception, as it is considered taboo.
• Lack of education means little knowledge of family planning and contraception, caused by the low literacy rate of women ( 47.6% )

Question 4

Causes of a youthful population :

1) High birth rates

Answer 4

• Families have more children as a safeguard, caused by high infant mortality rate of 41.4 per 1000, because government is poor and healthcare is poor.
• Children needed as economic assets
• Lack of old age pensions means that parents want more children to look after them in old age / ill health.

Question 5

Causes of a youthful population :

2) Low life expectancy

Answer 5

• High infant mortality rates
• Poor sanitation and poor living conditions leading to disease and easy spreading of disease
• Poor healthcare
• Government can’t afford better hospitals or to build more hospitals.

Question 6

Consequences of a youthful population :

1) Advantages

Answer 6

• A large workforce in the future, because children will grow up to join the economically active / working population.
• Provides a large and cheap workforce
• Provides a large tax base for the country
• Provides a growing market for manufactured goods
  Source of innovation and development

Question 7

Consequences of a youthful population :
2) Disadvantages ( high dependency ratio, financial
problems )

Answer 7

• High dependency ratio, which means that economically active ( working population e.g. parents ) faces a bigger burden of supporting the dependent population ( large population of young dependents ), and reduce work productivity, and reduce economic growth
• Financial problems, which leads to there not being enough money in families to support the children. It increase in poverty levels, increase in malnutrition, overcrowding of homes, and often don’t have electricity or running water, poor sanitation

Question 8

Consequences of a youthful population :
2) Disadvantages ( not enough education,
desertification, poor working conditions )

Answer 8

• Not enough education. It leads to the over straining and overcrowding of schools, teachers and teaching resources ( e.g. textbooks ). E.g. 3000 pupils split into 26 classrooms, and 6 toilets for the 3000 pupils, each with 50+ people in the queue.
• Schools often adapt a 2 shift system, so some are taught in the morning and some later on in the day. This results in students not getting enough education because they can only attend half a day.
• Desertification. People cut down forests for resources - to make houses, to make wood fires, and to sell. ⅔ of the forests are already gone, resulting in a temperature increase
• Poor working conditions. Teachers are poorly paid and can work up to 12 hours a day. 1 in 3 14 year olds have to work to help support the family.

Question 9

Solutions :

Answer 9

• More easily accessible contraception. An NGO called ‘Futures’ delivers very cheap contraception, which is subsidised by WHO. Awareness campaigns and radio adverts educating people on contraceptives. Reduce stigma on contraceptives.
• Improving healthcare. Funding from Canada is used to help provide vaccinations for children. Improved maternity care helps more mothers to survive childbirth. Mothers are encouraged to space out the births so they have more time to recover.
• Managing resources. German government is funding a forest planting scheme, to plant more trees and educate people on how to take care of these trees.