Published on Linkedin on December 7, 2017
By 1800 World Population had reached one billion people for the first time. This had
increased to 2,3 billion by 1950. The statistic exploded to 7,0 billion by 2011 and
projections for 2050 anticipate an increase to 9,3 billion people. Further projections of
World Population to the year 2100 are in some cases as high as 15.8 billion.
We have seen one billion people in the first eighteen hundred years since the birth of
Christ and we expect an additional fourteen billion eight hundred million people in the
three hundred years that follow. It is a horrifying and exponential progression and one
which is both appalling and catastrophic. It is sad testimony to man’s innate fallibility
and absolute stupidity. While projections for the more developed nations are relatively
flat, 97% of this anticipated increase will be experienced in less developed nations.
Most disturbingly 49% of that increment will be experienced in Africa.
South Africa’s contribution to the exponential growth on the African continent is
equally appalling. While Whites, Coloureds and Asians grew from 1 922 000 individuals
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in 1910 to 10 798 984 in 2016, an increase of 5,6x, Blacks numbers increased in the
same period from 3 956 000 to 45 109 881 people, an increase of 11,4x.
Blacks represented 67% of South Africa’s population in 1910, whilst in 2016 they had
grown to represented 81% of the population. The other race groups had declined
from 33% in 1910 to 19% in 2016.
Continuation of this historic population growth trend is unsustainable given South
Africa’s current unresolved challenges:
· Level of Poverty
· High Unemployment
· Large Social Grant Burden
· Low Matric Pass Rate
· Low Conversion to Employment Rate
· Public Sector usurping the role of the Private Sector
· High Debt to GDP ratio
· Junk Borrowing Status
· Migrating Taxpayers
· Low Foreign Direct Investment
· Pursuit of Failed Marxist Ideologies
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· State Captured Institutions
· Poor calibre of Political Appointees
· Unsustainable employment by SOEs
· Uneconomic SOEs
· Low Economic Growth Potential
· Level of Corruption
There is no doubt that European Colonization and Apartheid impacted the lives of
Black South Africans between 1910 and 2016.
Where shall we lay blame for the Black population explosion in that same period?
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