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Africa’s population growth will be the centre of attention this week in Entebbe, Uganda as leaders from across a range of disciplines apply their minds to how it can be slowed down. Alex Ezeh and Garumma Tolu Feyissa set out the factors driving high fertility rates, and explain some of the solutions that will be considered.
Kids once fantasised of growing up to be a rock star or an astronaut. Increasingly they want to be a social media star. Last year eight-year-old YouTuber Ryan Kaji made US$22 million playing with toys. But he’s the exception. As Natalya Saldanha writes, the evidence suggests there’s little in it for most aspiring influencers. And in fact, most earn below the poverty line.
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A mother walking her child home from school in Uganda.
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Alex Ezeh, Drexel University; Garumma Tolu Feyissa, Jimma University
High fertility is driven by a number of factors including desired family size, low levels of use of modern contraceptives, and high levels of adolescent childbearing.
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A whopping 12% of the population aged 13 to 38 consider themselves social influencers, according to marketing company Morning Consult.
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Dr Natalya Saldanha, RMIT University
Increasing numbers of children, and adults, want to be social media influencers. They would be better off aspiring to be astronauts.
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Politics + Society
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Julia Gaffield, Georgia State University
Jean-Jacques Dessalines, who freed Haiti from French colonial rule in 1804, is revered as a spirit in the Haitian religion. Now he's become an icon of the uprising against President Jovanel Moïse.
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Richard Gunderman, Indiana University
One hundred years ago, the inventor of the most deadly weapon of the 20th century was born in Russia. Now more than 100 million of his namesake guns have been manufactured and used around the world.
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Energy + Environment
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Henrik Selin, Boston University
President Trump has confirmed that the US will leave the Paris Agreement on climate change on the earliest allowable date: Nov. 4, 2020. Will this hobble efforts to slow global warming?
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Emily Moran, University of California, Merced
Masting is what biologists call the pattern of trees for miles around synchronizing to all produce lots of seeds – or very few. Why and how do they get on schedule?
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Business + Economy
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Joel Samuels, University of South Carolina
Oligarchs have made headlines recently as the impeachment hearings against President Donald Trump move forward.
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Danson Kimani, University of Essex; Geofry Areneke, Manchester Metropolitan University
Little research has been done on the impact of multinational companies that are born and bred on African soil.
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En français
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Matthew Flinders, University of Sheffield
Dans l’actuelle campagne législative, les deux principaux partis britanniques se focalisent sur la dénonciation de leurs ennemis bien plus que sur la promotion de leurs propres programmes respectifs.
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Elise Lobbedez, EM Lyon
Entre observation participante et paroles de « gilets jaunes » de la région lyonnaise, retour sur ce qui a changé dans le quotidien des acteurs impliqués.
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