Definite Demography Disaster!

Institute of Economic Affairs(IEA)Kenya chapter after conducting a nationwide study revealed that Families headed by youths aged 15 to 24 are on the rise in kenya.Will share a few insights of this findings which have raised concern over the modes of parenting being practised in the country that boasts a population of 38 million in Ecoke and further analyse the implications of the same, The study that sampled more than 10 million youths in 2009 attributes this to early sex among teenagers indicating 11 per cent of young women and 22 per cent of young men aged between 15 and 24 had their fist sexual intercourse before the age of 15.
The report says that teenage pregnancy is higher in urban than rural areas, and casts blame on parents over negligence of roles.32 per cent of uneducated teenagers had begun child-bearing compared to 10 per cent of those with some secondary education. This is a nightmare to policy makers, who are forced to change strategies more often to address the rapid demographic changes. From these findings it can be argued that Lack of education and poverty is the lead component behind the rapid upsurge of young families. Other factors responsible for the early marriages according to the report were high unmet need for planning by women, and low use of contraceptives. The underage-led family, according to the study, indicates that young people living in rural areas tend to initiate sexual activity earlier than their counterparts in towns.
More young men than women in all the regions sampled engage in high risk sex with respective percentages in Nyanza 88, Central 86.8, and Western 86.4. Condom use, according to the report, was regarded unpopular among the youths. About 41 per cent of men aged 15 to 34 believed that use of contraceptives among women could lead to promiscuous behaviour with 15- to 19-year-olds believing use of contraceptives is the business of women. Another disclosure shows that more men aged 15 to 49 engaged in transactional sex, which involves exchange of sex for money. Despite the high risk of contracting HIV, men aged 25 to 29 years have an affinity to procuring sex.
Young women aged 15 to 34 in town preferred to have three children whereas their counterparts in rural areas prefer four said the report. The study also showed that spousal violence was common among the young families with more of the women approving of being beaten by their spouses over reasons such as burning food, child neglect, going out without their spouses’ consent, with refusal to have sex taking the lead. In the report, less women feared death than men, but both men and women equally feared failure. Other fears and worries from the report that youth dread are HIV, poverty and rape. Youths aged between 17 to 19 years heavily spent their pocket money on snacks, airtime, cyber café, food, clothing, transport and outings.
Youths drinking alcohol according, to the report, shows that 67 per cent of 17- to 19-year-olds are bought alcohol by other people, and 75 per cent are bought for cigarettes by friends. Self-buying alcohol stands at 33 per cent and that of cigarettes at 25 per cent. Further insight of the study reveal that 31 per cent of 17- to 19-year-olds influenced themselves into drinking and 17 per cent into smoking. This shows that most drinkers were self influenced contrary to mob influence.