Tanzania’s President John Magufuli on Tuesday made an appeal to the women of the country to has “set your ovaries free” and have more children to help boost the economy into a regional powerhouse, reported Reuters. He said a higher birth rate would achieve faster progress.
“When you have a big population you build the economy,” he said late on Tuesday, citing India and Nigeria as other examples of countries that gained from a demographic dividend. “That’s why China’s economy is so huge.”
“I know that those who like to block ovaries will complain about my remarks,” he told a gathering in his home town of Chato. “Set your ovaries free, let them block theirs.”
Although the East African nation of 55 million people already has one of the world’s highest birth rates – around five children for each woman, the President insisted a higher birth rate would achieve faster progress.
After taking office in 2015, Magufuli has launched an industrialization campaign that has helped in backing economic growth, which has averaged six to seven percent annually in recent year.
According to the data from the UN population fund UNFPA, Tanzania’s population is growing by about 2.7 percent annually while most public hospitals and schools are overcrowded and many young people lack jobs.
The UNFPA says about a third of married women in Tanzania use contraceptives, but the President has criticized Western-backed family planning programs implemented by the health ministry.
Last year, the president claimed curbing the birth rate was “for those too lazy to take care of their children.” The Tanzanian health ministry also barred broadcasting of family planning adverts by a US-funded project.
The opposition leaders in Tanzania have criticized Magufuli’s call out for an increased birth rate, saying the country’s already rapid population growth is a time bomb.
