Family Planning in Asia and the Pacific - International Council on ...

FigureFigure1Oceania <strong>and</strong> <strong>the</strong> <strong>Pacific</strong> isl<strong>and</strong>sA dist<strong>in</strong>ctive feature of <strong>the</strong> demography of Micronesia<strong>and</strong> Polynesia, which is relevant to <strong>the</strong> subject of thispaper, is <strong>the</strong> relationship between natural <strong>in</strong>crease <strong>and</strong>population growth. With some exceptions, most of <strong>the</strong>countries that have low population growth are subject tosignificant external migration, which offsets a considerableproportion of <strong>the</strong> natural <strong>in</strong>crease. In <strong>the</strong> Federated Statesof Micronesia, Samoa <strong>and</strong> Tonga, for example, externalmigration offsets about 80 per cent of natural <strong>in</strong>crease; <strong>in</strong>Marshall Isl<strong>and</strong>s, 90 per cent of current natural <strong>in</strong>crease isoffset by external migration. The rate of natural <strong>in</strong>crease<strong>in</strong> <strong>the</strong>se countries rema<strong>in</strong>s about 2 per cent per year. In<strong>the</strong> absence of external migration flows <strong>the</strong>se countries<strong>and</strong> territories would be subject to significant population<strong>in</strong>crease <strong>in</strong> <strong>the</strong> com<strong>in</strong>g years.The extent of urbanization <strong>in</strong> <strong>the</strong> region encompass<strong>in</strong>g <strong>the</strong><strong>Pacific</strong> isl<strong>and</strong>s varies widely. Some countries <strong>and</strong> territories(Guam, Nauru <strong>and</strong> <strong>the</strong> Nor<strong>the</strong>rn Mariana Isl<strong>and</strong>s) areclassified as 90-100 per cent urban. In <strong>the</strong> larger Melanesiancountries of Papua New Gu<strong>in</strong>ea <strong>and</strong> Solomon Isl<strong>and</strong>s <strong>the</strong>level of urbanization is low, with more than 80 per centof <strong>the</strong> population liv<strong>in</strong>g <strong>in</strong> rural areas, mostly <strong>in</strong> villagesalong traditional l<strong>in</strong>es. Samoa <strong>and</strong> Tonga, <strong>in</strong> Polynesia,also have a low level of urbanization, with 79 <strong>and</strong> 77per cent, respectively, of <strong>the</strong> population be<strong>in</strong>g classifiedas rural. Ano<strong>the</strong>r situation is represented by <strong>the</strong> CookIsl<strong>and</strong>s, Kiribati, Marshall Isl<strong>and</strong>s <strong>and</strong> Tuvalu, <strong>in</strong> whichbetween 44 <strong>and</strong> 65 per cent of <strong>the</strong> population is liv<strong>in</strong>gon one relatively urbanized isl<strong>and</strong> (usually <strong>the</strong> centre ofgovernment), with <strong>the</strong> balance distributed across a numberof widely scattered isl<strong>and</strong>s.With <strong>the</strong> exception of <strong>the</strong> larger Melanesian countries,<strong>Pacific</strong> isl<strong>and</strong> countries have high social <strong>in</strong>dicators relativeto <strong>the</strong> level of per capita <strong>in</strong>come (Table 2). Several countrieshave life expectancy above 70 years <strong>and</strong> high literacy. The<strong>in</strong>cidence of absolute poverty is low <strong>in</strong> <strong>the</strong> <strong>Pacific</strong> but“basic-needs” poverty ranges from 13 per cent <strong>in</strong> Niue to50 per cent <strong>in</strong> Kiribati. Access to improved water sources<strong>and</strong> sanitation is good <strong>in</strong> most countries but more thanhalf <strong>the</strong> population of <strong>the</strong> Federated States of Micronesia,Kiribati, Papua New Gu<strong>in</strong>ea <strong>and</strong> Solomon Isl<strong>and</strong>s lackadequate sanitation.67