Demographic Dividend Research Paper

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CHALLENGES TO ATTAINING THE BENEFITS OF THE DEMOGRAPHIC DIVIDEND IN SOUTH AFRICA

The age structure of a population plays a key role in promoting economic growth through an increase in the ratio of the working age population. This is usually conditioned by the presence of good governmental policies and interventions. Demographic dividend is defined as a rise in the rate of economic growth due to a rising share of the working age people in a population. This phenomenon occurs with a falling birth rate and the consequent shift in the age structure of the population towards the adult working ages. This essay seeks to discuss the challenges to attaining the benefits of the demographic dividend in South Africa. The discussion will be with relevance …show more content…

Thus, the principal aim of this policy is to strengthen and provide guidance to efforts aimed at both preventing and responding to health problems through the promotion of healthy development amongst adolescents and youth.
Most STI’s occur among adolescents and young adults. Although most are curable, many infections are left untreated. There are many reasons why young people are particularly vulnerable to sexually transmitted infections, apart from physiological vulnerability, they are susceptible to peer pressure, have a tendency to engage in risk-taking behaviour, are less able to negotiate safe sex with their partners and have difficulties accessing easily understandable information on signs and symptoms of STIs and youth friendly …show more content…

These dialogues are done by a means of dialogues, which creates a platform on which the youth of South Africa can come forward to voice their experiences and challenges with regards to sexual and reproductive health and rights issues. The Status Report on Adolescents and Young People in Sub-Saharan Africa has shown that 52% of young people have had full penetrative sex by age 17, and yet 35% of teenagers who have sex say they only sometimes wear a condom, while 32% who have sex say they never wear a condom.(UNFPA, Population Reference

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