Hailemariam, A. (2016). Implementation of the population policy of Ethiopia: achievements and challenges. Population Horizons, 13(1), 1-14.
Overview: The National Population Policy (NPPE) policy was proposed eliminating legal and customary practices affecting women’s rights, ensuring spatially balanced population distribution, improving agricultural productivity, and launching a country-wide population information, education, and communication program. However, the policy has not been properly evaluated, and the extent of its realization is unclear due to rapid socioeconomic development. This study reviews progress made towards achieving the original policy objectives, highlights successes, identifies major challenges, and proposes ways forward.
Methodology: The study analyzes secondary data from the 1994 and 2007 Population and Housing Censuses, the 2000, 2005 and 2011 Ethiopia Demographic and Health Surveys, the 2014 Mini Demographic and Health Survey as well as data from the United Nations Population Division.
Findings: Ethiopia experienced significant population growth rates in the late 20th century, reaching 3.5% in 1990-95. However, the country has since slowed its growth rate significantly, with a projected 2.5% growth rate in 2010-2015. The current fertility trends suggest that Ethiopia’s population growth rate will decline to 2.2% in 2025-30 and 1.8% in 2030-35.
Knowledge of family planning methods has increased by 54.3% between 1990 and 2011. However, the number of currently married women of reproductive age using family planning has significantly increased since the introduction of the National Population Policy (NPPE). This increase is attributed to the increase in facilities providing family planning services and the diversification of approaches to provide services. The NPPE has also led to the introduction of national and international NGOs providing family planning services and supporting such efforts. However, there is still a significant unmet need for contraception, with an estimated 25.3% unmet need for spacing births and 9.0% for limiting total births.
Since the promulgation of the population policy, the country has made significant progress in expanding access to education, health services, gender equity, equality, women empowerment, and economic growth and development. However, there are several challenges that hinder the effective implementation of the policy. These include the lack of legal basis for the establishment of Population offices at regional and national levels, the failure to establish the National Population Council (NPC), the inadequacy of integrating population variables into socio-economic development planning, and the absence of a comprehensive population program.
Conclusion: A comprehensive national population program is essential for achieving policy goals, and the revised policy should design a comprehensive program and establish joint plans of action and monitoring frameworks. Strengthening the technical and institutional capacity of implementing agencies is also crucial for successful policy implementation. As population issues are crosscutting, integrating population issues into development planning is critical.
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