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Date:         Wed, 18 Nov 1992 19:39:15 PST
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From:         Northcoast Environmental Center <nec@IGC.APC.ORG>
Subject:      IPS: Population: St.Lucia & Urbanization

/* Written 12:09 am  Nov 12, 1992 by newsdesk@igc.apc.org in igc:ips.englibrary
*/
/* ---------- "POPULATION: ST. LUCIA TACKLING URBA" ---------- */
Copyright Inter Press Service 1992, all rights reserved.  Permission to re-
print within 7 days of original date only with permission from 'newsdesk'.

Reference: Caribbean
Title: POPULATION: ST. LUCIA TACKLING URBANISATION WITH EDUCATIONO


an inter press service feature

by earl bousquet

castries, nov 9 (ips) -- as tiny as this eastern caribbean
island of st. lucia is, rapid urbanisation is no less of a
headache for population planners here than in any other
developing country.

almost half of the 142,000 people living on this 616 sq km
island, are crammed together in the northern castries-gros islat
area containing the st. lucian capital, where they hope to find
better opportunities for personal development.

while this is by no means an unexpected phenomenon, head of
the population unit, cornelius lubin, says the authorities are
worried.

''heavy concentration in the urban areas, only serves to
stretch the capacity of existing social services, resulting in
the need to find addditional resources which are already hard to
come by,'' lubin laments.

another major concern is the age structure of the population.
last year's census indicated that 48 per cent of st. lucians were
20 years old or under and just seven per cent were over 65.
significant growth is projected for these two age groups.

arrivals on the job market are estimated at between 3,400 and
3,800 a year. current population growth is 1.6 per cent, or 16
persons per 1,000. taken together, says lubin, the figures show a
clear picture of ''what we are up against''.

because of the youthfulness of the population, the fertility
rate is high. babies born to teenagers last year, account for 20
per cent of all births in st. lucia, a drop from 30 per cent in
1980, but nevertheless worrisome.

''in fact, our fertility rate is twice as high as that of the
united states, which is already the highest among developed
countries, and four to five times higher than that of canada,
england or france,'' says lubin.

''we just can't meet the additional needs from our dwindling
financial and economic resources.''

the population unit has been spreading the message that
urbanisation must be controlled. (more/ips)

population: st. lucia tackling urbanisation (2)

''we will require a significant increase in investment to
counter some of the more negative aspects of urbanisation, such
as joblessness, lack of school places, scarce housing, inadequate
sanitation and other such problems of urban growth,'' the unit
cautioned in this year's population day message.

for its part, the planning ministry has commissioned a series
of socio-economic needs surveys in towns and villages across the
island.

the challenge now, lubin says, is to provide the basic
infrastructure to streamline development efforts, in keeping with
the findings of the surveys.

one way is to increase current population awareness at the
individual and institutional levels, and to motivate st. lucians
to become effective family planners, through education involving
the schools and churches.

lubin notes that the most recent contraceptive prevalence
survey had indicated a small increase in the number of women of
childbearing age, who are using contraceptives -- a good and
encouraging sign.

but he insists ''we must now talk of population development,
looking beyond contraceptives, and realizing that education is
still a key component in the process.''

''the way that the subject of sex is treated in the society
can encourage or discourage the development of responsible
attitudes among adolescents,'' he adds.

further, lubin argues, every sexually active teenager knows
that sex can lead to pregnancy, but their understanding of the
relationship between the two is not strong enough, making them
vulnerable to relationships which result in early and unwanted
pregnancies.

to counter this problem, lubin announces, family life
education is to be shortly introduced at all levels of the
school system, taking care to ensure that the subject is treated
in a manner appropriate to the particular age group.

the st. lucia planned parenthood association which is
collaborating with the population unit, recently launched a
skills training programme for unemployed young rural dwellers,
with a view to making them employable or able to be
self-employed. (end/ips/eb/dla)
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