NAIROBI, June 6 (Xinhua) -- Kenya on Thursday launched a framework that would guide the implementation of population programs for the country's sustainable development.
Njuguna Ndung'u, cabinet secretary for National Treasury and Economic Planning, said during the launch in Nairobi, the capital of Kenya, that the policy would provide the East African nation with a responsive and harmonized direction to address population growth in relation to economic growth.
"Population growth must be in tandem with available resources and development goals. Rapid population growth is problematic for any country; if the population grows faster than the economy, challenges like increased dependency emerge," he said.
He observed that the framework, titled "Kenya National Population Policy for Sustainable Development," would guide the country to tackle population growth in line with its economic blueprint Vision 2030, Africa's Agenda 2063 and the UN Sustainable Development Goals.
"Kenya's population growth between 1999 and 2009 was about 3 percent per year; this fell to 2 percent between 2009 and 2019. This means Kenya is on the right path because the growth of population should never be higher than the growth of the real economy," he added.
Kenya's population currently stands at about 50 million people and is projected to grow to 57.8 million by 2030, according to the Kenya National Bureau of Statistics (KNBS).
The youth constitute 29 percent of the population, with their numbers growing much faster from 3.2 million in 1989 to 13 million in 2019 and expected to hit 19 million by 2035, Ndung'u said.
James Muhati, principal secretary for Economic Planning, said the framework would help to harness the potential of the population and adopt forward-looking planning.
Kenya's economy grew 5.6 percent in 2023, an increase from 4.9 percent in 2022, according to the World Bank. And it is expected to grow 5 percent in 2024.
