Jose Oying Rimon II, Director of the Bill & Melinda Gates Institute for Population and Reproductive Health at Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, was recently featured in an article from The Economist discussing fertility trends in Africa. The article, “The world’s peak population may be smaller than expected,” explored suggestions that Africa’s birth rate is falling more quickly than expected according to UN projections. Rimon provided insight into the factors contributing to this trend and what it means for the continent's population growth.
The fall in Africa’s birth rate could have a profound effect on Africa’s total population and economic growth, given Africa’s population is projected to increase by 2.2 billion people by 2100. Director Rimon comments, “we have been underestimating what is happening in terms of fertility change in Africa.” He also notes that “Africa will probably undergo the same kind of rapid changes as east Asia did.” Also quoted is Funmilola Olaolorun, a Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health alumni and principal investigator for Gates Institute’s Performance Monitoring for Action project in Nigeria.
Read the full article published 5 April 2023 in The Economist here.
