Africa region population projections : 1989-90 edition

The majority of populations in the Sub Saharan Africa region are growing rapidly. In some countries, where the average woman continues to have seven or more births, growth is as rapid as 4 percent a year. The population of the region as a whole is likely to double in slightly more than two decades, and after that, the region will be contributing more to annual world population growth than the far larger Asia region. The projections in this paper cover almost two centuries, from 1985 to 2150. The length of the projection period was chosen to allow populations to approach stability, which for several takes essentially the entire period. The paper begins with an introduction which explains what projection results are provided in the detailed tables, describes the projection methodology, and summarizes and interprets the main results.