Saturday, April 7, 2012

ARTICLE - 16.1 MILLION INHABITANTS - 2050

16.1 MILLION INHABITANTS IN 2050

Haiti now has nearly 10 million inhabitants, 6.4 million live below the poverty level. According to the latest projections of the Haitian Institute of Statistics and Information (IHSI), the population of Haiti, will have 16.1 million inhabitants in 2050 [8,023,000 men and 8,126,000 women]. A projection higher than the previous recommunicated in June 2010, which provided then 13.4 million inhabitants in 2050.

This update of the projections of the Haitian population in 2050, was conducted by the IHSI with the support of the Latin American Center of Demography (CELADE) and the Economic Commission for Latin America (CEPAL). Moreover, these projections indicate that by 2050, two thirds of Haiti's population will live in urban areas, against less than 50% today. The gender distribution will remain substantially the same as today.

According to Evens Joseph, Director of the IHSI, such informations on the Haitian population, are essential to the planning process and of economic and social development of the country. "With these statistics, we can better plan the future [...] We can also have a more objective idea of the challenges we will face: schools, health centers to build, jobs to create..."

For André Lemercier Georges, Minister of Economy and Finance "the government will use these projections to improve its understanding of the growth dynamics and predict changes sufficiently accurate, for making good decisions."

Added to the challenge of the reconstruction of the country, it is essential that these demographic data are taken seriously into consideration by our Government, to avoid that in the coming years, the situation is worse than that prevailing before January 12, 2010. Recall that the density of the population in Haiti is 350 inhabitants per square kilometer, while for a population equal, it is only 200 inhabitants per square kilometer in the Dominican Republic. Will it be necessary to establish a more rigorous family planning to ensure housing, work and food for future generations and avoid the negative socioeconomic consequences of overpopulation?

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