Title: Introduction to population, resources, and sustainable dekelopment in sub-Saharan Africa.

POPLINE Document Number: 128799

Author(s):

Oucho JO

Source citation:

In: Sustaining the future: economic, social, and environmental change in sub-Saharan Africa, edited by George Benneh, William B. Morgan, and Juha I. Uitto. Tokyo, Japan, United Nations University Press, 1996. :66-84.

Abstract:

Sub-Saharan Africa had an estimated total population of 543 million in mid-1992. Like Latin America and the Caribbean, sub-Saharan Africa has a very low population density of 22 people per sq. km, 10% of the population density in South Asia and 20% of that in East Asia and the Pacific. 71% of the subcontinent's population is rural. Sub-Saharan Africa's population is one of the poorest and depends in many subregions upon fragile tropical environments. The author discusses the major subcontinental and regional features of sub-Saharan Africa's demography, introducing the subject as a foundation upon which other more detailed discussions of poverty, development, sustainability, and resource management can rest. Topics relevant to demography such as urbanization, urbanward migration, natural resources, and environmental sustainability are not considered in-depth. Internal and international migration; human resources; population, agricultural land, and food supply; and population, economy, and sustainable development are considered. Land, atmosphere, water, energy, natural vegetation and deforestation, and other primary resources are also discussed.

Keywords:

Africa, Sub Saharan
Environment
Population Characteristics
Natural Resources
Human Resources
Sustainable Development
Migration
Africa
Developing Countries
Demographic Factors
Population
Economic Factors
Economic Development
Population Dynamics