Three socio-economic and demographic requirements are essential. Forty-eight years later, in 1998, due to the much faster growth rate, the population of Africa had risen to about 749 million or 20 million more people than Europe which had 729 million people. Although future growth rate is expected to be lower, the in-built population momentum nearly guarantees a doubling of present population size by 2035. The primary roles of most African women are those of wife and mother, and childbearing is an important determinant of social status. In most countries, children are the main source of old-age security for parents who have large families in order to ensure that a few of their children survive to adulthood.
Children contribute to household income.
They serve as farm workers, and hawkers of assorted wares in the informal sector. Children are also relied upon to perform vital household tasks such as cooking and cleaning, as well as fetching potable water and collecting free fuel wood from forests, often from long distances. Rapid population growth contributes enormously to over-utilization of resources and environmental degradation. This creates private incentives to have more children. Indeed, it results in a vicious circle in which child labour and rapid population growth lead to environmental degradation which in turn, generates more work and the need for more children and thus, rapid population growth.