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16 Years after the Genocide, Rwanda Continues Forward
Wednesday, April 7, 2010
By: Josh Ruxin
Millions live on tiny plots of land scarcely capable of producing adequate food for families in which the average woman gives birth to six children. It's this latter issue raging population growth that continues to perplex the policy and development wonks in Rwanda. Perhaps Rwanda can create opportunity for the 11 million who live here today, but can it do so for the estimated 14 million who will live here in 2020? In response, the government has embarked on an ambitious program to promote family planning, but population momentum takes years to slow. At current rates, in 10 years 70% of the population will have been born after the genocide. However, if half of all Rwanda's children continue to be malnourished (as are about half the children alive today), the nation will be unable to realize its highest goals.
NY Times column
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