Population growth
Demographic experts in Equatorial Guinea confirm the willingness of the authorities and the
society to encourage population growth in order to build a potential work force as
policymakers project a modern and competitive country in the near future.
A foreigner who impregnates a woman is not allowed to leave the country with the baby.
Reasons for this are not officially known but a source, who declined to be mentioned, said it is
in line with efforts to grow the population.
Teenage pregnant girls are on sight everywhere in the country, with ages between 13 and 19.
They go to school in maternity gowns with lips and eyebrows proudly made up. They receive
support from their families and are never teased by the society unlike other places on the
continent.
“We are very few. If we don’t encourage childbearing how do we increase our population,”
Daniella Ehui, a municipal female official in Bata says.
“Strangers are invading us. We need to reinforce our presence and also raise a strong and
hardworking generation to sustain the bright future that is being projected. I think that is while
teenage pregnancies is encouraged or overlooked here. So long as there is means to cater
for the girl and the baby there is no issue,” she says.
Equatorial Guinea is a country with huge natural resources but with meagre indigenous
human resources required t o develop and tap into the flow of the wealth that keeps attracting
men and women from far and near.
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