The youth bulge in our population and what it means for Guyana

Jul 23, 2011 Letters

DEAR EDITOR,
Every year the 11th July is observed as World Population Day, but this year is a special year because the world is expected to reach, at the end of 2011, a population of seven (7) billion. This is more than double the amount of people the world had fifty (50) years ago.
World Population Day was started in 1989 by the Governing Council of the United Nations Development Programme. The question might be asked, so what does this have to do with Guyana? Well, a growing global population simply means global resources will have to be shared among more people and less money will be available to assist countries like ours, something which we already see happening in the HIV funding and other areas.
In Guyana, according to census information from the Bureau of Statistics, Guyana’s population has been increasing, except for once in our history, 1991, when there was a decline. According to the 2002 census our population was a very young one: – 53% were persons between ages 0-24; 88,989 – 0-4 year-olds; 96,666 – 5-9 year-olds; 81,492 – 10- 14 year-olds; 66,923 – 15-19 year-olds and 64,415 – 20-24 year-olds. The rest of the age groups were less than 60,000. Ten years later, which would mean next year, our population would still be one of the youngest, with the percentage growing from 53% to over 60% (if we are to include the births for the last ten years).
What does all of this mean? Well, the growing population of Guyana also has been accompanied by an information technology revolution which countries like ours should be grabbing hold of and creating opportunities for employment for the young population, since there is now more than ever a higher number of students entering and exiting the secondary and tertiary school system and therefore an increasing demand for jobs.
The question I dare to ask our Ministers of Government and our President is has this been done? Has our growing youth population been accompanied by an increase in programmes and opportunities? Have enough jobs been created? Are our educational programmes modern and reflect the changing trends in classrooms across the world? Is the lavish and repeated spending on the same buildings and infrastructure which seems to be the current trend of the last eighteen years the kind of development and worthwhile expenditure our country needs? Is committing US$14 million for a hotel project which will create employment for no more than 1,000 persons more beneficial than creating a National Youth Development Fund to provide loans and grants for young Guyanese?
These are just a few questions I ask answers for from the Hon. Minister of Finance, Dr. Ashni Singh, questions all Guyanese youth are and should be asking as we end the observance of International Year of Youth 2010-2011.
Sunil Singh

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