In an earlier publication, which is the first part of this paper, we introduced the Christian religious stance on fertility, especially considering Genesis 1:28. We also agreed that the culture in Ghana supports the Christian stance that childbirth is a blessing.

However, the question was whether the present conditions of today make the cultural reasons for having many children tenable and whether the command to increase and fill the earth was simply a command to have many children.

• Read also: High fertility rates in Ghana – Blessing or bane? – Part 1

Statistics on Ghana’s population growth rate (2.1%), the fertility rate (3.9%), and the number of Ghanaians under 15 (38%) were presented. The second part of the paper will reflect on the implications of the statistics, the lessons learned, and ways forward.

The Implications

The statistics tell us a few things:

First, with such a high dependency ratio, household incomes will be relatively low, and savings will consequently be low. For example, if an average family has two working adults and five children to care for, their income will be low compared to their expenditure. Their quality of life, in terms of nutrition, education, and access to health, may also be negatively impacted. They will, therefore, not have leftovers to put into savings. Such a family also has no contingency income to fall on in case of a family emergency like a health emergency. A similar family with fewer children has a relatively higher income, a better quality of life, and higher savings and, hence, is more likely to survive in the event of an emergency.

When households have low savings, it impacts the nation. Low savings will translate into low investment due to low investment income. Low investment has negative implications for the various sectors of the economy, like health, education, housing, food security, etc. When households are in distress when they have a family emergency they cannot afford to handle, they become a national burden and call for more social interventions. However, a country with low investment does not have the luxury of investing much in social intervention programs. The quality of life for households is further decreased, and inequalities between the poor and rich deepen.

Low investment in a nation also means that there will be high unemployment in the long run, a situation that the country has already been grappling with for some time now. High unemployment has its challenges, which we can see today in Ghana, such as high brain drain, because the best of our human resources is seeking employment elsewhere where there are opportunities for them. Again, high unemployment can increase the crime rate, and people find their way through to survival by engaging in illegal activities like galamsey, drug peddling, trafficking, etc. Today, everyone in Ghana is marveling at the impudence with which we are destroying our lands and river bodies with relentless galamsey. These issues, in turn, have precarious consequences for national security. High unemployment further deepens the dependency ratio, compounding the cycle of underdevelopment.

With population growth rates still outpacing development, what we are looking at is certain life-long poverty for the predominantly youthful population we have. Especially with deepening inequalities, as demand for goods and services for survival increases and pressure increases, only the rich can afford it. The poor will keep getting pushed into poverty, and a new poor will be created as prices keep rising. The pressure on existing infrastructure, such as educational and health facilities, is obvious. In Ghana educational institutions, we keep talking about ‘the good old days’ when the school facilities were enough for the student intake. Now, the number of hostels for university campuses has increased significantly, yet the accommodation challenges of tertiary students keep mounting. Secondary schools are no different. ‘No bed’ syndrome in our hospitals is becoming the norm even as wards are bursting to their seams to accommodate patients.

The lessons and ways forward

As Dr Leticia Adelaide Appiah has noted in her book Human Resource to Human Capital, growth is a constant part of life, but growth must be beneficial (2024, xi). My interpretation of Genesis 1:28 is grounded in this reasoning. We must obey the command to increase and multiply, but what kind of increase? Indeed, growth in numbers is assured because it has been infused into our system via societal norms and human behavior. Increasing the number is easy, but we should ensure we are flourishing and not merely bloating. That is quantitative and qualitative growth with hope for all in this generation and the next. This is true religion.

I also believe that science is to help us to discover what God has already done. Hence, we should not take scientific research and data for granted, or else we fall short of knowing God and the world God has made. We fall short of the dominion that we are expected to take. Reasoning is one of the pillars of theology or one of the ways of knowing God. Faith does not ask us to leap blindly; faith calls us to respond to the Word of God. Faith calls us to listen to what pertains in our world and then act according to the Word or the message about Christ (Romans 10:17).

Some people may think that we are simply making much noise and that responsible family planning and reproductive health do not matter. But as often as people are trying en masse to migrate from this country, through fair and foul means, and go to countries that are flourishing, we must remember that this is real evidence and a real consequence of our reproductive health and family planning policies and choices. We either chose to increase and flourish or just bloat. God laid life and death before us and implores us to choose life (flourishing, progressive development, equitable growth) rather than death (poor nutrition, health, etc.) – Deuteronomy 30:19.

Development is inextricably linked with population growth, which is driven by three variables, namely fertility, mortality, and migration. (Ghana Statistical Service, Fertility and Mortality, Feb 2022). This is not to say that population growth is the only determinant of development, but it cannot be overlooked in the development concerns and policy. Fertility rate control is, therefore, a pragmatic policy strategy for flourishing in any society. But just saying to people to manage the number of children born without empowering them by giving them the tools to do so is another form of lip service. Something that is becoming prevalent in our country. Empowering people would be to make available information and access to family planning and reproductive health options. According to the Ghana Statistical Services Demographic and Health Survey Report 2022, the total demand for family planning among married women in Ghana is 60%. This demand consists of the 36% of currently married women who have a met need for family planning—that is, they are currently using a contraceptive method—and the 23% of currently married women have an unmet need for family planning. If all currently married women who said they want to space or limit their children were to use family planning methods, contraceptive prevalence would increase from 36% to 60%. The total demand for family planning that is satisfied is 61%.

These statistics show us that, currently, in Ghana, a significant proportion of people are not even considering family planning as an option. The implication is that there is still a major gap in education on family planning and why it is crucial in living the good life for all. It will take community leaders, like chiefs and queen mothers, religious leaders, and other influential agents, to partner with the reproductive health clinics and NCCE to bring this education to the people. The rate at which the nation is going makes this an urgent affair that requires immediate action. It would also be good to hear from politicians seeking power about their plans to implement population management policies in this respect. It should be high on their agenda and priorities.

Again, there is a significant proportion of those whose demand for family planning is not being met. This also implies that as a nation, we have not yet been able or not taken seriously enough access to reproductive health and how crucial it is to our development.

Child marriage is still prevalent in Ghana, as the statistics have shown. Again, community leaders and the government are called upon to implement policies, educate, and take stances to help eradicate this phenomenon. If children continue to bear children, we have a widening dependency problem. If young girls begin to give birth early, their childbearing years are relatively longer and may lead to many children being born per woman, impacting development negatively. Stakeholders in the religious and cultural spaces must push for and complement efforts at eradicating the phenomenon of child marriage.

Teenage pregnancy has not abated since the days of many commercials and education about it. Lately, however, such education seems lost on the community and national levels. Again, when we speak about sex education for young people, it is a taboo topic in many spaces in Ghana, in church, in schools, and at home. Hence, the phenomenon remains pervasive. Beyond being an individual and her family’s problem, this negatively impacts the entire nation's development.

I come back to my argument that fertility is a blessing and increased numbers are a good thing, but high fertility rates are not always a blessing. It can be a bane when not managed well to bring flourishing to all. God has blessed us and asked us to take dominion, is our current state reminiscent of a people who have taken dominion? Our high fertility rate is, therefore, a bane to us now. Implementation of policy on child marriage, education for our young people, access to reproductive health information, and family planning tools will go a long way to help us as a nation reverse the current trend of underdevelopment. Religious leaders and Community leaders must take up the challenge!

The author, Rev. Georgina Kwanima Boateng, is an ordained minister of the Presbyterian Church of Ghana. She is passionate about social issues that reduce the quality of life of communities and works alongside the Presby Departments of Development and Social Services, and Ecumenical and Social Relations to advocate against gender-based violence and ecological destruction. She is also an ambassador for reproductive health and family planning with DAI-Africa. She can be reached at gynaboat@yahoo.co.uk