UN Population Division, Department of Economic and Social Affairs,
with support from the UN Population Fund (UNFPA)
|
| UN Population Division, Department of Economic and Social Affairs, with support from the UN Population Fund (UNFPA) |
|
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This newsletter is being made available by the Population Information
Network (POPIN) of the United Nations Population Division/DESIPA and the
Population Reference Bureau, with funding from the Andrew W. Mellon
Foundation.
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Population Today
Monthly newsletter of the Population Reference Bureau
August 1996, Vol 24, No. 8
Please note: The graphics that appeared in the printed copy of
Population Today have not been included here. For a complete
copy of Population Today, send $2.00 to Population Reference
Bureau,1875 Connecticut Ave., NW, Suite 520, Washington, D.C.
20009.
In this issue: ** Teens' Risk of AIDS, Unintended Pregnancies
Examined ** News from Washington ** One-Third of U.S.
Children in Poverty Live in Working-Poor Families **
Spotlight on Brazil **
*****
Teens' Risk of AIDS, Unintended Pregnancies Examined
By Paola Scommegna
Millions of the world's youth are exposed to unintended
pregnancies, unsafe abortions, and sexually transmitted
diseases (STDs), including AIDS. Several new reports from PRB,
the U.S. Census Bureau, and the International Center for
Research on Women (ICRW) document the magnitude of this global
problem:
* About 1.6 billion people are between ages 10 and 24,
accounting for almost 30 percent of the world's population.
* About 15 million young women ages 15 to 19 give birth each
year, more than 10 percent of all births worldwide.
* The proportion of teen births outside of marriage has risen
50 percent in the United States since 1980. That proportion
rose 26 percent in Botswana and nearly 70 percent in Kenya
during the 1980s.
* About 2 million adolescent women in developing countries
have illegal, unsafe abortions each year. At least 10 percent
of all abortions worldwide occur among women ages 15 to 19.
* About half of all HIV infections worldwide have occurred in
young people under age 25. Since the start of the pandemic, at
least 12 million young people have been infected with HIV.
* HIV is spreading rapidly among young women ages 15 to 24.
In many countries, these women account for 40 percent of all
new HIV infections.
Maternal and infant mortality
PRB's World's Youth 1996 data sheet reports that teens
who become pregnant face higher health risks than older women,
particularly teens who are unmarried and less likely to
receive timely prenatal care. The risk of dying from pregnancy-
related causes is twice as high for women ages 15 to 19 than
for women ages 20 to 24. For girls ages 10 to 14, maternal
mortality rates are five times higher than for women in their
early 20s.
In countries with the largest proportions of early
teenage births, infant mortality among the children of teenage
mothers also tends to be high, according to the Census
Bureau's Trends in Adolescent Fertility and Contraceptive Use
in the Developing World.
Health researchers have "known for a long time that
adolescent childbearing puts both mother and child at risk,"
said Thomas McDevitt, a Census Bureau demographer. "And that's
still the case."
Despite the risks, teens are less likely to use contraception
than older women.
"In many parts of the world, contraception is often
inaccessible to adolescents because of social taboos,
financial or geographic barriers, a lack of confidential
services, and inadequate knowledge about family planning
methods and where to obtain them," explained Jeanne Noble,
PRB's international policy fellow.
Also, family planning services are often designed for older,
married women, and providers may be unwelcoming to unmarried
teens, she said.
Evidence of coercion and abuse
Recent studies suggest that throughout the world, young
sexually inexperienced women are sometimes paired with older
men, creating the potential for coercion in sexual relations.
A study of birth records in California revealed that more than
half of all 11- to 15-year-old mothers had children fathered
by men over 18 years of age. In Tanzania, a hospital- based
study of adolescents seeking treatment for abortion
complications found that 31 percent of girls under age 18
became pregnant by men over 45 years of age.
"While not all relationships with older men are
coercive, unequal power in the relationship may contribute to
unintended pregnancy or a sexually transmitted disease by
reducing the ability of the adolescent girl to negotiate when
sex will occur and whether contraception will be used," said
Jane Cover, a PRB policy analyst.
The ICRW report, "Vulnerability and Opportunity:
Adolescents and HIV/AIDS in the Developing World," includes
evidence of sexual coercion and rape. More than half of the
130 sexually experienced young women surveyed in Papua New
Guinea had been forced to have sex. A similar share of the
168 sexually experienced young women interviewed in Malawi had
sex against their will. Such experiences leave young women
powerless to protect themselves from AIDS and unintended
pregnancies.
Educational gains
School enrollment data show some encouraging trends for
youth. Around the world, young people are better educated
than their parents. Over the past 10 to 15 years, the
percentage of boys and girls enrolled in secondary school has
increased by at least 10 percentage points in half of all
Asian countries and one-quarter of all Latin American and
African countries.
Numerous studies have shown that women with more
education are less likely to marry or give birth at a young
age than less educated women. Children of more educated
parents also tend to have lower rates of infant and child
mortality.
Even a little education appears to be linked to later
childbearing. Using DHS data from the late 1980s and early
1990s, the Census Bureau showed that the proportion of
adolescents with primary schooling who were beginning
childbearing was 35 to 40 percent lower than those who had not
attended school.
The World's Youth 1996 is available from PRB in English,
French, and Spanish. Price: $3.50. Contact: Circulation Dept.,
PRB, 1875 Connecticut Ave., NW, Suite 520, Washington, DC
20009-5728; (800) 877-9881.
Trends in Adolescent Fertility and Contraceptive Use in
the Developing World, Report IPC/95-1 (March 1996) is
available from International Programs Center, Bureau of the
Census, Washington, DC 20233-8860; (301) 457- 1351; single
copy free.
Vulnerability and Opportunity: Adolescents and HIV/AIDS
in the Developing World, is available from the International
Center for Research on Women, 1717 Massachusetts Ave., NW,
Suite 302, Washington, DC 20036; (202)797-0007; single copy
free.
*****
NEWS FROM WASHINGTON
Capitol Hill Lawmakers Challenge Sampling Plan for 2000 Census
Two bills recently introduced in the House would limit
or ban the Census Bureau's use of statistical sampling
techniques to follow up nonrespondents to the 2000 Census. To
save money and avoid an undercount, the Census Bureau has
proposed trying to reach at least 90 percent of the households
in each county with the mail-in form or a personal visit, then
sample the remainder to complete the count.
A bill by Rep. Thomas Petri (R-WI), supported by many
Republicans, would prohibit sampling. Petri, who represents a
rural district, argued that estimation techniques are less
reliable for smaller populations.
Rep. Carrie Meek (D-FL) has introduced a bill that would
prohibit sampling at the county level, but allow it at the
much smaller (and more homogenous) census tract level. Meek's
bill has the backing of most congressional Black Caucus
members. They fear that census workers may find it easier to
reach their 90 percent goal by focuing on easier-to-contact
suburban households and then using sampling for missed inner-
city areas, producing an even greater minority undercount than
in 1990.
In May, a bipartisan group of members of Congress who
oversee census funding urged Census Bureau officials to seek
court approval before going ahead with the sampling plan.
They argued that sampling may be unconstitutional because the
U.S. constitution mandates an actual enumeration of the
population every 10 years.
The Census Bureau's sampling plan was endorsed by the
interim report of the National Academy of Sciences'
Alternative Census Methodologies panel.
Senate to Consider Restrictions on Research on Minors
A bill before the Senate could limit research involving
minors, including data gathering on issues such as drug use,
teen pregnancy, health practices, smoking, and violence.
The bill, known as the Family Privacy Protection Act,
requires written parental consent before minors can
participate in most types of federally funded research. The
legislation was passed by the House last April as part of the
House Republicans' "Contract With America. "
Currently, federal regulations require parents or
guardians to be notified and given the right to withdraw their
child from a study. A small percentage_about 1 to 2 percent_of
parents choose not to participate in a typical study.
A RAND Corporation study found that only about 45
percent of parents take the time to return a written consent
form, even though few object to their children's
participation. RAND researchers estimate that contacting
parents who do not object but did not bother to return the
form would be "extraordinarily expensive," adding about $45
per respondent.
"The children who are excluded because no form was sent
in are disproportionately likely to be minority and high risk
kids," said Phyllis Ellickson, a RAND behavioral scientist,
speaking on Capitol Hill. "That means we end up with an
incomplete, inaccurate, and biased picture of how well our
children are doing."
A coalition of 30 organizations oppose the bill,
including the Population Association of America, the
Association of Population Centers, the National Parent
Teachers' Association, the American Academy of Pediatrics, and
the American Public Health Association.
International Family Planning Aid Generates Renewed
Controversy
Funding for international family planning activities is
expected to be contentious again this year, as the 1997
foreign aid bill moves through Congress. The House foreign aid
spending bill (H.R. 3540), passed in mid-June, imposes new
restrictions on private agencies that receive family planning
aid funds. The Senate version of the bill, approved by a
committee in late June, does not include the restrictions.
The House bill sets population aid through U.S. Agency
for International Development (USAID) at $356 million, a 35
percent cut over 1995 funding levels. It also provides $25
million for the U.N. Population Fund (UNFPA). The Senate
version sets population aid through USAID at $410 million; it
also includes $35 million for the UNFPA and $15 million for
family planning programs in the newly independent states of
the former Soviet Union.
Under the new restrictions in the House bill, a private
agency must certify that it did not provide legal abortions
and does not lobby to change any country's abortion laws.
Otherwise the agency would receive no more than half the
amount it received in 1995.
The House bill also includes $600 million for a new
"Children and Disease Programs Fund," created by House Foreign
Operations Subcommittee Chairman Sonny Callahan (R-AL) to
respond to the needs of children and the problem of infectious
diseases. It also includes funding for basic health,
sanitation, and education. The Senate bill supports aid in
these areas but does not set up a separate fund.
A House-Senate conference committee will meet to
reconcile the differences between the two bills after the
Senate has passed its version. President Clinton has
threatened to veto the foreign aid bill if the restrictions
on family planning agencies in the House version are retained.
*****
One-Third of U.S. Children in Poverty Live in Working-Poor
Families
By Kelvin M. Pollard
To "end welfare as we know it," policymakers across the
political spectrum are debating ways to get welfare recipients
into the labor force, replacing "welfare checks with
paychecks." But a recently released report suggests that these
efforts overlook a key fact: an increasing share of poor
children live in families where at least one parent already
works year-round.
One-third of all poor children in the United States_5.6
million children in 1994_lived in families classified as
"working poor," according to the 1996 KIDS COUNT Data Book, a
profile of the status of children in the United States by the
Annie E. Casey Foundation. In working-poor families, at least
one parent worked 50 or more weeks during the previous year
but the total family income remained below the official
poverty level. (In 1994, the poverty standard for a family of
three was $11,821.)
"The impulse to reform welfare by enhancing self-
sufficiency through work and earnings is a sound one," said
Douglas Nelson, executive director of the Casey Foundation.
"But, at the same time, we have to make certain that working
will actually enable families to meet the minimum needs of
their children."
The number of children in working-poor families grew 30
percent between 1989 and 1994, a period of overall strength in
the national economy. During the same period, the total number
of poor children increased 21 percent, from 12.6 million to
15.3 million.
To explain the growing number of children in working-
poor families, the report cites research on the declining
value of low-skilled labor by demographer Reynolds Farley at
the University of Michigan's Population Studies Center. A
young adult working full-time at the minimum wage in the 1960s
could earn enough to put a family of three above the poverty
level. In 1994, working full-time at the minimum wage earned
only 70 percent of the income needed to raise a family of
three above the poverty line.
The report challenges the popular image of poor children
being mainly the offspring of unemployed teenage mothers. Most
children in working-poor families were born to women over age
25. In addition, roughly half of these children lived in two-
parent households where at least one parent (usually the
father) worked all year.
Problems faced by working-poor children
Despite relatively greater family income and the
intangible benefit of having an employed parent as a role
model, children in working-poor families face many of the same
risks as children whose parents are on welfare, the report
found. Compared to children in non-poor families, children in
working-poor families are less likely to be fully immunized,
are at greater risk for academic problems, and are less likely
to become economically successful later in life.
The report highlights health insurance and child care,
two areas where working-poor children are disadvantaged. In
1994, 27 percent of such children had no health
insurance_neither private (because their parents' employment
did not include health benefits) nor public (because they are
frequently ineligible for Medicaid, since they do not receive
AFDC payments). This proportion, higher than that of any other
group of American children, would have been even greater were
it not for recent changes in Medicaid policies designed to
assist working-poor families, according to the report.
Working-poor families with young children also struggle
with the cost of adequate child care. The report cites Census
Bureau statistics showing that for those who pay for child
care, on average, one-fifth of a working-poor family's monthly
income goes to child care_three times the percentage spent by
the average non-poor family. Moreover, the quality of care
working-poor children receive usually is lower than that
received by non-poor children.
Helping the working poor
The KIDS COUNT report suggests several ways to remedy
the current condition of working-poor children. In the long
run, the education of at-risk children in the United States
must be improved dramatically so they can compete for higher-
wage jobs in the global economy. More immediately, the report
recommends eliminating barriers to child care and health
insurance for the working poor. It highlights the Earned
Income Tax Credit (EITC), a refundable tax credit that
increases the net income of low-income wage earners. In 1994,
the EITC lifted 1.7 million children of low-income working
families out of poverty.
"Making work really `work' for disadvantaged families
won't be easy or quick, but we do have the knowledge," Nelson
argued. "The open question is whether we have the resolve."
PRB provides technical and research support to the Annie
E. Casey Foundation for developing KIDS COUNT materials. The
1996 KIDS COUNT Data Book, KIDS COUNT Data Sheet, and KIDS
COUNT Pocket Guide are available from the Annie E. Casey
Foundation, 701 St. Paul Street; Baltimore, MD 21202; (410)
223-2890.
A State-By-State Look at How U.S. Children Are Faring
The 1996 KIDS COUNT Data Book tracked national and state data
on 10 indicators of child well-being between 1985 and 1993.
For 5 of the 10 indicators, conditions for children
deteriorated nationwide.
* The percentage of low birth-weight babies (babies
weighing less than 5.5 pounds at birth) increased 6 percent
between 1985 and 1993.
* The rate of teen violent deaths (accidents, suicide, and
homicide) for youths ages 15-19 rose 10 percent.
* The teen birth rate for girls ages 15-17 climbed 23
percent.
* The juvenile violent crime arrest rate for youths ages
10-17 soared 66 percent.
* The percentage of single-parent families with children
increased 18 percent.
Four other indicators showed improvement between 1985 and
1993.
* The infant mortality rate fell by 21 percent.
* The rate of deaths to children ages 1-14 dropped 12
percent.
* The proportion of teens ages 16-19 who were high school
dropouts fell 18 percent.
* The percentage of idle teens ages 16-19 neither
attending school nor working dropped 9 percent.
One indicator, the rate of child poverty, showed no change
nationwide during this period, remaining at 21 percent. This
trend, however, masks two contrasting trends during the
period: a decrease in child poverty during the late 1980s,
followed by an increase in the early 1990s.
The report found that both levels and trends of child well-
being varied among the states for each indicator. For example,
while the child death rate decreased nationwide between 1985
and 1993, it did not change in three states and increased in
six others and the District of Columbia.
The report includes a composite ranking based on the sum of a
state's standing on each of the 10 indicators of the condition
of children. States are arranged in sequential order from the
highest/best (1) to the lowest/worst (51) (see map above).
Overall, states in New England and the Great Plains scored
highest on these measures, while southern states and the
District of Columbia fared less well.
*****
Brazil
By Marion Carter
Population: 160.5 million
Land area: 3,265,060 square miles
Births: 25 per 1,000 population
Deaths: 8 per 1,000 population
Infant deaths: 58 per 1,000 live births
Natural increase: 1.7 percent per year
Total fertility: 2.8 births per woman
Life expectancy: 64(male)/69(female)
Capital: Brasilia
Brazil is South America's largest country and home to
nearly half of the continent's people. A former Portuguese
colony, Brazil maintains a distinct culture that reflects
South American, European, and African influences. About 50
percent of Brazilians are white, 8 percent black, and 42
percent of mixed origin. Brazilians are predominantly Roman
Catholic.
Like other large countries, economic and social
characteristics vary widely across Brazil's states and people.
The poorer northeast region relies more on agriculture than
the richer southeast region, where the levels of urbanization
and industrialization are higher and social welfare is
generally better. Brazil's two largest cities are also two of
the world's largest: Rio de Janeiro and Sao Paulo, at close
to 10 and 17 million people, respectively. Sao Paulo generates
nearly 50 percent of Brazil's GDP and contains more than 20
percent of its population.
Despite solid economic growth, Brazil has one of the
world's widest income disparities. In the early 1990s, nearly
40 percent of urban and 66 percent of rural Brazilians lived
in poverty. Recent economic and land reforms appear to be
assisting some of Brazil's poor to improve their lives.
Brazil caught the international spotlight in the 1980s
because of deforestation of its rainforests. Today, about 10
percent of the Amazon forest is cleared, but the pace of
deforestation has slowed.
Brazil's cities, not its forests, have experienced the
bulk of population pressure. In 1960, 45 percent of the
population lived in urban areas; today, over three-quarters
do. Sao Paulo, already the second-largest urban area in the
world, is expected to reach over 20 million people by 2015.
The streets of Brazil's cities are home to a large
population of street children. Though difficult to estimate,
10 million children and youths may be either homeless or
making a meager living off of the streets. Street children may
be orphans, or separated from their families, or living with
their families, who are also homeless. Some work on the
street, while others beg or steal. They may be linked to
prostitution and drugs and be the targets_or perpetrators_of
violence. All, however, are poor.
Child labor is an issue in Brazil. Today, an estimated
30 percent of rural children and 9 percent of urban children
ages 10 to 13 work in the formal economy. In some rural areas,
60 percent of workers are ages 5 to 17. Child labor also
contributes to Brazil's relatively low educational attainment
levels. UNICEF estimates that around 1990, only one-third of
all Brazilian children continued on to secondary school,
compared to 74 percent and 47 percent, respectively, for the
Latin America and Caribbean regions.
Immunization rates among Brazil's children are rising
but still lag slightly behind regional averages. The mortality
rate for children under age five has decreased dramatically,
from 181 deaths for every 1,000 live births in 1960 to 61 in
1994. During the same time period, the average number of
children born to a woman during her lifetime_the total
fertility rate_dropped from 6.2 to 2.8.
This fertility decline is related in part to increased
access to and acceptance of family planning. Contraceptive
prevalence, including traditional and modern methods, is
around 66 percent, with female sterilization and the pill the
most popular methods. Brazil's abortion rates are high,
despite laws limiting access to abortion services. One
estimate suggests that about 30 percent of all pregnancies are
terminated through abortion each year.
*****
Haiti health disaster: Mothers and children at risk
A new DHS survey (EMMUS-II) of health conditions among
the Haitian people reports one of the worst health disasters
in the western hemisphere.
Haiti's mortality rate for children under five years is
more than one death for every eight live births, the highest
in the western hemisphere. Diarrhea kills 37 percent of these
children; chronic undernutrition, 32 percent; and acute
respiratory infection, 25 percent.
Environmental stresses contribute to and exacerbate
health problems in Haiti. Environmental degradation destroys
arable land, which in turn restricts the food supply. Without
enough food, mothers and children are especially vulnerable to
malnutrition.
The EMMUS-II national survey compiles the results of
fieldwork conducted from July 1994 to January 1995, and
includes a total of 4,818 households. For a copy of the
survey, contact DHS/Macro International, 11785 Beltsville
Drive, Calverton, MD 20705; (301) 572-0200; e-mail: barrere@
macroint. com.
Federal statistics: One-stop shopping
Accessing federal statistics has never been easier, with
two new federal Internet sites and a fax-on-demand service.
The White House has launched on-line "briefing rooms"
(http://www.whitehouse. gov/fsbr) housing current releases of
economic and social statistics organized by themes (output,
income, employment, etc.), and the Bureau of Labor Statistics
(BLS) is promoting FAXSTAT (202-606-6325), a service that
faxes news releases, data, technical information, and more to
your machine. Also up and running is the BLS homepage
(http://stats.bls.gov) for quick access to surveys and
programs, publications, keyword searches, and research papers,
among other topics.
America's middle age boom
About one in eight Americans was 65 years or over in
1994, but with the aging of the baby boomers about one in five
could be elderly by the year 2030, according to a new Census
Bureau report. It sketches the future of the U.S. demographic
landscape, taking an in-depth look at the health, economics,
geography, and social characteristics of today's and
tomorrow's elderly.
For more information, see "65+ in the United States," by
Frank B. Hobbs with Bonnie L. Damon, Current Population
Reports P23-190, April 1996, available from the Superintendent
of Documents, U.S. Government Printing Office, Washington, DC
20402.
World leaders commit to better living standards at City Summit
Cities are the world's future and they can be made
livable, according to Wally N'Dow, secretary general for
Habitat II.
With some 100 million homeless people, mostly women and
children, in the world and 600 million people in inadequate
shelter, the problems for the world's cities might seem
overwhelming. But according to N'Dow, Habitat II proved that
such hardship is unnecessary because the resources exist to
house and provide safe water and sanitation for all Earth's
inhabitants for less than $100 per person.
The crucial role of women_who constitute 70 percent of
the world's 1.3 billion absolute poor_in the sustainable
development of human settlements was emphasized in the final
conference document.
The right to housing, women's rights, and whether
developed countries should allocate more funds to developing
countries to improve shelter were main points of contention
among delegate nations.
For more information on the City Summit, contact: The
U.S. Network for Habitat II, 1025 Vermont Ave., NW, Suite 300,
Washington, DC 20005; (202) 879-4286; fax (202) 783-0444; e-
mail habitatnetwk@igc.apc.org.
New books
The Atlas of American Society. Alice C. Andrews and
James W. Fonseca. New York: New York University Press, 1995.
303 pages. $40.00. ISBN: 0-8147-2626-7.
Emerging World Cities in Pacific Asia. Fu-Chen Lo and
Yue-Man Yeung, eds. Tokyo: United Nations University Press,
1996. 528 pages. $35.00. ISBN: 92-808-0907-5.
Vital Signs 1996: The Trends that Are Shaping Our
Future. Lester R. Brown et al. New York: W.W. Norton &
Co./Worldwatch Institute, 1996. 169 pages. $10.95. ISBN: 0-
393-31426-x.