| Abstract: | On October 15, 1976, at special ceremonies Papua-New Guinea announced the Population Research Programme and a national population policy. At the program Stephen Tago, Minister of Environment and Conservation, the agency in charge of the population policy, traced the history of abstinence and acceptance of abortion and infanticide which had traditionally limited population. With the breakdown of these traditional methods many families now have 10-15 children and the population is expected to double within 25 years. This is putting stress on the goal of universal education,economic opportunity, and agricultural resources. Data must be collected on the effects of population to help the government and the people make proper population decisions. Charles Lepani, Director of the Central Planning Office, emphasized the importance of statistics to population policy and development strategy. This office predicts that the current population of 2,750,000 will double in less than 25 years. Nearly 40,000 people reach working age every year. The labor force currently totals 1,250,000. A more gradual increase in population would make priorities of the research program were described by Governor of the Bank of Papua-New Guinea, Henry To Robert. The government needs to know more about the physical characteristics of population growth, especially about regional variations. The social and economic reasons for high fertility need to be examined as does the relationship between population and resources. Information also needs to be gathered on attitudes toward policy change. |
