Busongora North Member of Parliament Hon. William Nzoghu has suggested to parliament to come up with a law that can set a limit to the number of children each family in the country is supposed to have.
Hon Nzoghu called for the regulation of the number of children per family during Tuesday plenary saying it would address the increasing pressure on the available land and other resources.
“I have realised that families with fewer children are able to provide for them compared to those with many,” he argued.
He was responding to a statement on the World Population Day presented by Finance and Planning State Minister, David Bahati.
In his presentation, Bahati said Uganda has registered an impressive increase in longevity of its population.
“Life expectancy in Uganda increased from 43 years in 1991 to 63 years in 2016. HIV/AIDS prevalence rate in the general population declined from 18.5% in 1991 to 6.4% in 2016,” Bahati noted.
Bahati said poverty in Uganda has also reduced. It stood at 56% in 1991.
“The good news is that poverty levels declined to 21.4% by 2016.”
In addition, the population with access to electricity has more than doubled from 11% in 2010 to 23% in 2016.
He said maternal mortality also declined from 506 deaths per 100,000 live births in 1991l to 336 in 2016, representing a decline of 34%.
“Fertility has also declined from 7 .4 children per woman in 1988 to 5.4 in 2016, a decline of 24%.”