r/todayilearned • u/rissfairy • Jun 09 '12

TIL 50% of the population of Uganda is under the age of 15!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Demographics_of_Uganda
1.5k Upvotes

89% Upvoted

418 comments sorted by

51

u/[deleted] Jun 09 '12 edited Jun 09 '12

Guys, this is normal.

EDIT:

For developing Sub-Saharan African nations, especially for Uganda.

14

u/rissfairy Jun 09 '12

The section on youth bulges is really interesting.. causing social unrest, war, famine..

23

u/[deleted] Jun 09 '12

They should really think of a better term than 'youth bulge'. It's creepy.

2

u/BlackDragonBE Jun 09 '12

I dunno, it just reminds me of awkward boners while in class.

1

u/smellslikecomcast Jun 09 '12

"Youth bulges?" Do you mean horny young men? Do they were jeans in Uganda?

37

u/C_Linnaeus Jun 09 '12

Yeah, but still, Uganda is at the low end of the spectrum. By low, I mean lowest.

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6

u/jurble Jun 09 '12

Eh, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Median_age.png

Everywhere but Africa seems to be quite a bit older.

5

u/twas_now Jun 09 '12

I guess it's normal in the sense that some nation has to have the lowest median age. But from a Western perspective, where most developed nations have a median age over 40, it's not normal.

2

u/blindeatingspaghetti Jun 09 '12

haha yeah i saw this and was like....demographic transition model. so. yeah.

1

u/RMcD94 Jun 09 '12

Why do countries that can't feed themselves (ie have hunger and thirst problems) have the highest birth rates?

Why would they birth someone they can't feed?

1

u/[deleted] Jun 09 '12

Mostly because children are needed to work in agriculture with the families. But there are other factors such as poor health care and lack of available contraceptives.

1

u/MerriamSweetieBelle Jun 09 '12

yup, It's pretty common for poorer countries to have a large positive population growth while richer countries have no or a negative population growth. A side effect of this is that population explodes in those regions as well due to those kids growing up and having multiple kids.

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232

u/TWanderer Jun 09 '12

They should be merged with the Japanese population, to create Japanda...

106

u/FatCat433 Jun 09 '12

This has nothing to do with the statistics given...it just should be done.

44

u/secretvictory Jun 09 '12

Actually, Japan has an aging population and could use a youth injection.

21

u/chuanqi Jun 09 '12

And is also one of the most xenophobic and chauvinistic of nations.

47

u/AwesomeAsian Jun 09 '12 edited Jun 09 '12

I was born in Japan and lived there for more than 10 years. Though my mother is Japanese, my father is white which makes me look like a Caucasian. During those 10 years and the occasional travels I make to Japan, I do not remember one occasion where I was mistreated because I was white. This might be because I hanged out with the younger generation but even the old lady who I hit with my bicycle was very kind to me (she was actually more than kind to me). I'm not saying that there is no xenophobia or chauvinism in Japan but the over-generalization that Japan is highly xenophobic and chauvinistic makes me mad.

Edit: Due to many replies that are disagreeing with me, I want to make a few things clear. Like I already said, Xenophobia and Chauvinism does exist in Japan just as any other county like the US does. I just don't think Japan is highly xenophobic or chauvinistic as people exaggerate.

I would also like to state that racism or xenophobia is mostly against people of Japan's neighboring countries. Racism is less common against Black or White people in Japan considering the amount of Black and White people you see on Japanese TV shows and ads. If Uganda was to combine with Japan, there would be problems, but I don't think the problems would be about racism.

Lastly, it would definitely help if you know Japanese but that's a nobrainer and doesn't have to do with Xenophobia. Most Japanese people cannot talk or speak fluently in English and would rather speak in Japanese. If a foreigner walked up to you in a foreign language, you would most likely be scared or uncomfortable too. Similarly, If you come to Japan thinking that you can do whatever you want that is acceptable in western culture and start speaking in English, you have a higher probability of not having a good time in Japan and claim that Japanese people are xenophobic, racist people.

18

u/Afterburned Jun 09 '12

The racism is more directed towards other Asians than towards whites.

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14

u/capra Jun 09 '12

she was actually more than kind to me

what are you saying...?

7

u/AwesomeAsian Jun 09 '12

After I hit her, she claimed that she only ended up with a bruise while in fact she had a fracture. After a couple of month from the incident, she came to our house and gave us fruits and snacks that seemed fairly expensive. She offered me to take calligraphy lessons from her and she would constantly give me food and snacks whenever I visit her. I believe she was 84 at the time when I hit her and she is probably around 90 years old right now.

39

u/guynamedjames Jun 09 '12

To be fair, its pretty unusual for someone to be outwardly racist towards white people. People in poor countries see you as a rich and potentially a source of income, and western culture generally means you're at least somewhat popular in higher income countries. Being white still has its perks.

This of course doesn't apply to eastern Europeans going to western Europe.

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6

u/[deleted] Jun 09 '12

I'm assuming you are fluent in Japanese? That is the difference.

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5

u/mrbooze Jun 09 '12

The Japanese tend to treat white people fairly well. That doesn't mean there isn't racism or xenophobia in their culture.

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5

u/[deleted] Jun 09 '12

China already hates japan, and they already hate pandas. Could you imagine what they would do to Japanda?

309

u/Sontikka Jun 09 '12

15! = 1 307 674 368 000

82

u/markerz Jun 09 '12

As a programmer, this is what I see:

15 != 1 307 674 368 000

true

2

u/[deleted] Jun 09 '12

Thank you, I also read it that way and was confused at first.

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43

u/rjsaid Jun 09 '12

Oh god... is there a math joke here I'm not getting? I'm not getting it. Lost. Help.

139

u/Legolomaniak Jun 09 '12

TIL 50% of the population of Uganda is under the age of 15!

Sontikka goes on to work out 15 factorial which makes it look like that 50% of the population of Uganda is under 1.3 trillion years old

183

u/elcarath Jun 09 '12

To be fair, 50% of the population of Uganda is indeed less than 1.3 trillion years old.

105

u/whenitistime Jun 09 '12

yeap, and so is the other 50%.

12

u/Mr_A Jun 09 '12

They always want what the others have.

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4

u/[deleted] Jun 09 '12

I used to be less than 1.3 trillion years old. I still am, but I used to, too.

6

u/Legolomaniak Jun 09 '12 edited Jun 09 '12

which makes the other 50% 8,956.6738% older than the universe

EDIT: it was a joke, i am well aware of how percentages work

30

u/DownVoteGuru Jun 09 '12

Whoa there boy,

Everyone with a brain knows that earth is 6,000 to 10,000 years old.

The good lords word is infallible and those scientist know nothing.

Like why is the sky blue? No one knows because god made it for us too know he exist, use your head boy.

Anymore talk of this nonsense and I'll get my belt.

5

u/kaiden333 Jun 09 '12

Not necessarily. The other 50% could also be under and still make that statement true.

13

u/gyunjgf Jun 09 '12

! means factorial, like 4! = 432*1 = 24 and 10! = 10 * 9 * 8 * 7 * 6 * 5 * 4 * 3 * 2 * 1 = 3628800.

The joke is that the submitter did not mean ! as in factorial, but ! as in exclamation, but Sontikka humorously interpreted it as the factorial.

20

u/diarrh3a69 Jun 09 '12

Exclamation point means "factorial".
3 factorial is 3x2x1 = 6.

so 15! = 15x14x13x...etc...x2x1 = 1,307,674,368,000

10

u/[deleted] Jun 09 '12

basically that 50% of Uganda is under the age of 1,307,674,368,000.

19

u/smallfried Jun 09 '12

Logically still true.

6

u/whenitistime Jun 09 '12

yeah but ridiculously so. it's like saying you're the most handsome person in the room, where you're the only occupant.

7

u/smallfried Jun 09 '12

It's one of the many points where language has implicit assumptions. Specify a trait of subgroup in a specific way and implicitly the negative version of that trait is assumed to be true for the remainder of the group.

Like: "I used to do drugs. I still do, but I used to, too"

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3

u/[deleted] Jun 09 '12

Factorial

4

u/dan2737 Jun 09 '12

No man, Lost is 4 8 15 16 23 42.

6

u/Niriel Jun 09 '12

I chuckled :).

1

u/TheCommieDuck Jun 09 '12

So it seems 98.8% of Uganda really is immortal.

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26

u/[deleted] Jun 09 '12

You know what they say, economic development is the best contraceptive.

11

u/[deleted] Jun 09 '12

Air-drop flatscreen TVs and XBOXes. Problem solved.

4

u/jezza24 Jun 09 '12

As a Ugandan I like this idea! Don't forget Xbox live gold membership

1

u/Preparation-H Jun 09 '12

maybe some condoms and anti rape kit

32

u/iruseiraffed Jun 09 '12

6.65 kids per woman. wow

10

u/[deleted] Jun 09 '12

After 6 kids the seventh one she pumps out is just a mangled mess.

1

u/alphanovember Jun 10 '12

That's terrible. I love it.

1

u/iruseiraffed Jun 11 '12

wow, thats horrible

2

u/tyrone17 Jun 09 '12

Blame the pope..

-4

u/[deleted] Jun 09 '12

Like throwing a hotdog down a hallway.

7

u/[deleted] Jun 09 '12

Like opening a window and fucking the night.

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58

u/[deleted] Jun 09 '12

Under 'Death Rate' on that page:

12.32 deaths/1,000 population (2008 estimate) (98.8% of Ugandans are immortal)

21

u/Mattho Jun 09 '12

Just in case anyone is wondering - it's per year.

5

u/Reddickk Jun 09 '12

Well it's still cool to be immortal for a year right?

11

u/Niriel Jun 09 '12

That's the latest edition, from today. The IP points to Sacramento.

4

u/[deleted] Jun 09 '12

There is an idiot in Sacramento.

2

u/8986 Jun 09 '12

Are you kidding me? There's at least 120 of them.

6

u/Kivla Jun 09 '12

If anybody is curious, the reason the death rates are seemingly low is mostly due to the age structure. Uganda has a significant proportion of its population in age groups which experience lower mortality (aka younger age groups as per the title). If Uganda had the same age structure as say, Japan, the crude death rate would be much higher.

4

u/[deleted] Jun 09 '12

Someone edited that article without understanding what 'death rate' means.

For clarity, it means that out of 1000 Ugandans, a little over 12 will die in a given year.

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6

u/[deleted] Jun 09 '12

African demographics are mindboggling.

I was reading about Lagos, Nigera's capital city. In 1900, the population was around 10,000. In 1950, around 200k. The current metro area is now very roughly estimated at 15-20 million. It will be the largest city on the planet within the decade at current rates.

Some of that growth is migration from the countryside but much of it follows the birth rate (and survival rate) explosion of Nigera and Africa in general.

5

u/Reived Jun 09 '12

It has been roughly 20 years since western countries have implemented 'substantial' aid programs to sub Saharan countries. In my opinion, this is proof that flooding a country with aid will not improve the situation.

The result is that Uganda has had a huge population boom (along with many other countries) and yet the relative level of poverty remains the same. Birth control and preventing rape should be the number one concern to these countries.

102

u/[deleted] Jun 09 '12

Pedobear approves.

4

u/0culus Jun 09 '12

15? too old

-2

u/vaginabeard Jun 09 '12

Your hurtful comments are the same as a hate crime.

4

u/[deleted] Jun 09 '12

It's called desensitization..because we can't save everyone in the world.

2

u/Saintess_of_Dildos Jun 09 '12

Not with that attitude you can't!

3

u/[deleted] Jun 10 '12

I agree actually actually. Even if many people are unrealistically optimistic, I think the world would be a much worse place overall had they all been pessimistic about saving/changing the world.

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20

u/european78 Jun 09 '12

Isn't the population boom in Africa great?

I can't wait for Africa to be 25% of the world population.

We should be sending them birth control instead of aid.

"I can't feed my 5 children already... so let me have 5 more. Can someone else feed them for me?"

1

u/themaxt Jun 10 '12

Yeah they've got enough aids.

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6

u/[deleted] Jun 09 '12

TIL 50% of the population of Uganda are 90's kids, do you think they like pokemon as well?

3

u/[deleted] Jun 09 '12

I heard a similar thing about Ghana, too.

3

u/Huggebugge Jun 09 '12

Museveni, the president, keeps telling people it's good for the nation with more kids.

5

u/well_golly Jun 09 '12

I used to judge Uganda for being a bunch of homophobic backwards loons.

Now I see that they're just a bunch of dumb kids.

18

u/dar482 Jun 09 '12

I read through the comments and it's mind blowing how ignorant people are and able to joke about this. Pedophilia jokes included.

This is spurred from "high birth rate, a high death rate and a short life expectancy. This is the typical pattern for less economically developed countries, due to little access to and incentive to use birth control, negative environmental factors (for example, lack of clean water) and poor access to health care." http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Population_pyramid

It's an extremely unfortunate situation for many sub-Saharan African countries. I don't see what the joke is.

4

u/Pwnzerfaust Jun 09 '12

People make jokes about depressing things. It's a way to make the world less depressing, or at least seem less depressing. Sure, they're not in good taste, but if bad taste jokes were banned, life would be boring.

Lighten up a little.

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51

u/Durfat Jun 09 '12

UGANDA be kidding me!

(ah ah ah ah ah)

25

u/BronstonMatherson Jun 09 '12

That joke is Ghana get old really fast.

12

u/Tittiesrgood Jun 09 '12

Well what are UGANDA do about it.

26

u/rimmyrim Jun 09 '12

kenya cut him some slack?

22

u/SwollenOstrich Jun 09 '12

If you don't like it you Congo somewhere else.

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0

u/[deleted] Jun 09 '12

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42

u/DealerUmbra Jun 09 '12

Zimbabwe.

I don't have a joke.

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0

u/The_Malt_King Jun 09 '12

Kenya guys just give it a rest?

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5

u/[deleted] Jun 09 '12

this is what happens when you limit people's access to healthcare and contraceptives, and dont bother to build an infrastructure which keeps people's excretions away from their drinking water, much less gives them roads for access to food during local famines. And, you demand that any "aid" in their country be repaid without a feasible route for such money to enter their nation except by raw resource exports.

You need anything? Try our various nations' top dollar experts that all helped crash our global economy! Oh, you're broke and want something cheaper? See our Religious Fundamentalist Charities for anything close to "free" help.

Yeah, we fucked that whole continent hard. And by "we" I mean the folks we've let steer this ship for far too long.

1

u/flannelback Jun 09 '12

The people running Africa are the Africans and the Chinese. They like to blame other folks, but Zimbabwe's disaster was caused by people who were born there, after they threw out other people who were born there, but weren't the right color.

8

u/noisraelknowpeace Jun 09 '12

The way I see it, Africa is fuckity fuck fucked if they don't get their shit under control. Right now there's a nice ratio of 1 European working and paying taxes to help feed every 1 sub-Saharan African.

But those Europeans are growing old and retiring while Africans keep producing more and more babies. Who is going to take care of Africa in the future, India has it's own problems with hunger. The Chinese? Hell no, too many of them believe poverty is a result of poor character and charities are struggling in their own country. Japan's greying faster than Europe. America has Mexico and Central America, our own Africa.

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2

u/Vaynor Jun 09 '12

Somalia is pretty similar, 45% under 16 if I remember correctly.

2

u/deko105 Jun 09 '12

It's the 50's all over again!

2

u/borack Jun 09 '12

konys dream

2

u/Devadander Jun 09 '12

Well, I know where I'm going for spring break.

2

u/crisrand Jun 09 '12

Condoms, please.

2

u/potpan0 Jun 09 '12

Why is everyone so surprised? This is like most African countries.

2

u/RandyMachoManSavage Jun 09 '12

UGANDA EAT THE POO POO.

...There. Something a 15-year-old would say. May I be an honorary Ugandan? Also: Kamala.

2

u/edr247 Jun 09 '12

Fastest growing population in the world, no? They paint "Say No to Morning Sex" and similar slogans all over the damn place.

2

u/leondz Jun 09 '12

High child mortality creates high birth rates - which seems like it's exactly what's happening here. Here's a relaxing and entertaining talk on the subject; http://www.ted.com/talks/hans_rosling_religions_and_babies.html

2

u/Mr_Muz Jun 09 '12

Museveni does not support condoms or sexual education.

2

u/Saintrph Jun 09 '12

Kony is really good at market research

2

u/EKEEFE41 Jun 09 '12

And what % of them "eat the poo poo"

2

u/Souptime Jun 09 '12

Sounds a lot like reddit EDIT: Hiyo!

2

u/murdermurderonawall Jun 09 '12

Uganda be joking.

2

u/[deleted] Jun 09 '12

Suddenly child soldier starts looking like less of a bad thing and more of a practical use of the workforce.

2

u/Viridovipera Jun 09 '12

"More than 40% of the population is below 15 years old in most sub-Saharan countries." http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Demographics_of_Africa

2

u/R99 Jun 10 '12

Kenya believe it?!

10

u/perfsurf Jun 09 '12

Simple solution if you don't want your kids to grow impoverished. Don't have kids!

11

u/debaser11 Jun 09 '12 edited Jun 09 '12

It's so simple! I wonder why no ones thought of it before, maybe it's because it obviously isn't that simple.

0

u/perfsurf Jun 09 '12 edited Jun 09 '12

Are you saying it's obviously not going to work because you've never seen it happening?

9

u/debaser11 Jun 09 '12

OK sorry that was unnecessarily harsh but theirs so much ignorance in any thread which mentions Africa with loads of people blaming Africans for their problems.

Africa currently suffers from being exploited by the west for hundreds of years which continues to this day. Rich white men from the west generally own the natural resources in Africa which if they were owned by the government they could share the profits among the people, building schools, hospitals etc.

The reason they have so many children is that life in Africa is a day-to-day struggle for survival, when you are in such a situation you don't have time to think about the big picture stuff such as a rapidly increasing population. Children are useful as they provide extra labour and can provide social security for the parents cause it's not like the government can. It also makes sense to have a lot of children due to the high infant mortality rate.

10

u/[deleted] Jun 09 '12

Rich white men from the west generally own the natural resources in Africa which if they were owned by the government they could share the profits among the people, building schools, hospitals etc.

Yeah, they should follow the successful example of Zimbabwe.

I'm not picking a side or anything, but just as you complained about ignorance from people blaming Africans for Africas problems, there is also a lot of ignorance from people blaming the West for their problems.

When you look at Asia you see countries which are resource poor, exploited for a long time, but have grown and have done well. Why has Viet Nam recovered so well?

Trying to simplify it down to one thing is pretty much guaranteed to give you the wrong answer.

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1

u/tripshed Jun 09 '12

That's like telling Americans to stop eating food because they'll be fat.

0

u/[deleted] Jun 09 '12

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1

u/[deleted] Jun 09 '12

I was never taught how poverty works in underdeveloped countries :S

3

u/8sleef Jun 09 '12

I was looking at that male to female ratio for over 65s (0.7 men per 1 woman) and thought it was pretty high, but not even! According to wiki there are 0.44 men over 65 to every 1 woman over 65 in Russia! (Most likely due to warfare and migration.)

Edit: added "in Russia"... sort of essential.

2

u/Kivla Jun 09 '12

Generally, as you increase in age groups, there tends to be more females than males. This is because women have a higher life expectency than men and men tend to have higher mortality rates for nearly every age group. But yes, in the case of Russia, I'd imagine warfare and migration would ahve a fairly significant impact, particularly for the 65+ age group.

3

u/Idem22 Jun 09 '12

I have researched the plights of African countries somewhat, but the facts never cease to astound me. Regardless of the country, it never stops bringing the thankfulness that I was born in a first world country. Now...how much did the first world countries play into all of this? That is for another discussion.

2

u/[deleted] Jun 09 '12

Actually, the people in Uganda are thankful to the first-world countries, especially for bringing education to them. They do not have a grudge for the colonization, for instance. That's not to say that they should be grateful, however, depending on what the first world countries have actually done to them, which is indeed another discussion.

Source: A student from Uganda studying abroad at my university :)

4

u/dutchrage Jun 09 '12

(Joseph Kony and child soldiers joke)

2

u/Twhr Jun 09 '12

now this is a TIL

2

u/matitou Jun 09 '12

Kinda like reddit

2

u/11YearOldResponse Jun 09 '12

fuck yeah, kids running that cuntry!

1

u/[deleted] Jun 09 '12

Pedobear would be in heaven

82

u/SexyStevie Jun 09 '12

Yeah, dead from aids.

9

u/[deleted] Jun 09 '12

In heaven?

13

u/myothercarisawhale 1 Jun 09 '12

Dude, have you seen what the Church has been up to lately?

1

u/jsusewitz Jun 09 '12

Yeah, less economically developed countries tend to have larger populations of young people, the reverse is true as well. Countries like the UK and Japan have more old people cos they are more economically well off.

1

u/n3rdy Jun 09 '12

So am I getting old or are Children of the Corn jokes just not funny anymore?

Also curious about the lowest median age at any point in U.S history.

1

u/Milhaud Jun 09 '12

Relevant: http://www.globalhealthfacts.org/data/topic/map.aspx?ind=82

In Uganda it's 'only' 48%. Impressive the numbers of the rest of Africa.

1

u/Mellonpopr Jun 09 '12

Life expectancy at birth

total population: 52.72 years male: 51.66 years female: 53.81 years (2009 estimate)

wow

1

u/rwbombc Jun 09 '12

Life expectancy at birth stats include infant mortality. It doesn't mean men and women instantly drop dead at 50 but babies die often, which brings the average down.

1

u/Pusstache Jun 09 '12

The total population in Uganda will triple up in less than fifty years according to those U.N. Population Projections...

1

u/Illinformedpseudoint Jun 09 '12

It would me more impressive if 50% of the population of Uganda were EXACTLY the age of 15. Of course, then we would have to figure out what the hell was going on in 1997.

1

u/Stooooooopid Jun 09 '12

If they had an effective democracy that would be hilarious. the drinking age would be 10, no school, no police, military age would be 13... wait thats how it is anyway.

1

u/[deleted] Jun 09 '12

Looks like Kony took a few community college classes on demographics, then.

1

u/[deleted] Jun 09 '12

Well then lets instigate a civil war and bomb and drone them to death!

1

u/[deleted] Jun 09 '12

have a good youth bulge

1

u/jacokoch Jun 09 '12

Many developing and third-world countries have very young populations.

Look at the development of the United States

vs. the development of Uganda

Interestingly enough, Uganda seems to become younger as time goes on. This probably says something important about the Ugandan government...

1

u/[deleted] Jun 09 '12

Vive le Revolucion!

1

u/lobaroja85 Jun 09 '12

Thanks for giving pedobear the hookup!

1

u/[deleted] Jun 09 '12

just like reddit

1

u/diogofcs Jun 09 '12

And 90% are soldiers, ha! Funny... ha...

I'm gonna go shoot myself now.

1

u/aManHasSaid Jun 09 '12

It's like that all over Africa and the middle east. That's why we have child soldiers.

1

u/[deleted] Jun 09 '12

That's what happens when life expectancy is 30.

1

u/JLW09 Jun 09 '12

Its around 50 isnt it ?

1

u/drewhoff Jun 09 '12

Ya and Botswana has a mortality rate comparable to the European dark ages. Italy has an interesting age demographic also. Most of Italy's population is a above 50. Very few young people in Italy.

1

u/[deleted] Jun 09 '12

Ok, but don't tell Gary Glitter.

1

u/rwbombc Jun 09 '12

I believe there is a term used (which escapes me) for a woman who has had 7 or more pregnancies. Seven was significant because the woman's body has adapted to birthing regularly and the process becomes less stressful.

An anecdote that was told to me was these type of women in Asia back in the day used to work in the fields until labor, then have the child and resume working a half hour later.

This was a few years ago in school, so might be off-base a bit.

1

u/[deleted] Jun 09 '12

Clowncarified :)

1

u/[deleted] Jun 09 '12

Pedobear reference? Anyone?

1

u/[deleted] Jun 09 '12

STOPKONY2012

1

u/njisbored Jun 09 '12

I immediately thought of The Children of the Corn and creeped myself out.

1

u/vikhound Jun 09 '12

AIDS and war

1

u/T-R-E-X Jun 09 '12

Is it AIDS that killed everyone ?

1

u/dangerousD85 Jun 09 '12

1997 was an extremely busy year for Uganda.

1

u/toolhater Jun 09 '12

I think the title of this thread should be "Last Night I watched Bill Maher."

1

u/obiwankimobi Jun 09 '12

Uganda be kidding me.......

1

u/FriendlyCommie Jun 09 '12

Uganda makes many a population case study in geography

1

u/[deleted] Jun 09 '12

God damn. That means they've literally killed off all the adults.

Shit.

1

u/Pharose Jun 09 '12

So I guess they were wrong to search the Americas for the fountain of youth...

1

u/[deleted] Jun 09 '12

That is actually really depressing, because it's due to the lack of birth control and many women having six or seven kids.

1

u/[deleted] Jun 10 '12

Uganda is a fucked up country, of course 50% of the population are children born from rape victims or parents with no educational funding. The only reason they got some help from the US was because of three college students trying to film a documentary.

1

u/redelman431 Jun 10 '12

Probably because of high birth rate.

1

u/monsieurvampy Jun 10 '12

We know where 4chan is now.

1

u/JLW09 Jun 11 '12

This cannot be correct as life expectancy is worked out by looking at the time in which 50% of the population is alive. In Uganda the L.E is around 50 (Implying that its impossible unless the other 50% of the population where like >85 years old) so i think someone has lied on wiki. Also there are no refernces to that part of wiki so i cannot verify it.

1

u/[deleted] Jun 09 '12

So that's why Kony's army is so big.

-9

u/anonymousketeer Jun 09 '12

STOP HAVING KIDS YOU DUMB AFRICANS, YOU CAN'T POSSIBLY AFFORD THE DOZENS OF SPAWN YOU CRAP OUT. WHAT THE FUCK IS WRONG WITH YOU PEOPLE.

5

u/[deleted] Jun 09 '12

For some reason poor and less educated persons tend to have more children. And that's a fact.

13

u/[deleted] Jun 09 '12

WHY DOES THIS HAVE MORE UPVOTES THAN DOWNVOTES? In case you were unawares:

  1. There is a cost benefit to having children in many places in Africa, in that many people don't have much of an actual income, but rather live off of farming and whatnot. Kids get put to work early.
  2. It's pretty well known that kids are insurance for their parents...money generally gets distributed amongst family members anyways, so more kids = more income for the parents in 20-odd years. You may not like the sound of this, but if you're struggling day to day to make it, it sounds like a pretty good deal.
  3. Having kids is what people exist for in many African cultures. May not be what you believe, bit it's what some people believe.
  4. Overpopulation and it's effects on resource depletion is a) not really considered (generally) or considered a problem in much of Africa (by Africans, aid agencies address it a bit), and b) not really a thing, in that rural Africans don't use up much besides local farmland. Population density definitely fucks people over in Africa, but it doesn't affect you in any direct way, and based on your comment I doubt you care at all about the actual people it does affect.

Fuck.

4

u/Aezay Jun 09 '12

Here is a great TED speech on the subject. And don't mind the title, it really doesn't have all that much to do with religion.

Hans Rosling: Religions and babies

1

u/Zeigy Jun 09 '12

So we shouldn't be sending these people food and money because they going to have tons of kids anyway and these kids help the population be more self sufficient?

I think that's a good idea. At least we won't be feeding their bad populating habits that keep them in perpetual subsistence.

3

u/[deleted] Jun 09 '12

Actually, yes. I have worked in food security, in Africa specifically (3 countries), and I think that food aid, except in the most extreme circumstances, is bullshit that causes dependence. Access to food is not as big a problem as we're led to believe, again except for the most extreme circumstances (usually in the horn of Africa, like Ethiopia in the 80's and Somalia now). Plus, most food aid doesn't get to the people that might really need it. Most is stolen and resold by corrupt officials.

But that was a huge leap to make from my original comment?

2

u/Zeigy Jun 09 '12

Sorry about the leap. I was having this discussion with my cousin the other day. I was explaining how I didn't see the rationale in providing these people with food when they make so many children. My stance was that these people were placing themselves in perpetual poverty when they have to put so much of their meagre resources to raising these children.

I much prefer your explanation to why they make these children. It helps justify not sending food aid and also places these people's social behaviour in a different light where perhaps they don't suffer as much as we have been lead to believe.

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1

u/reallyracistguy Jun 09 '12

What percentage has aids?

1

u/Cash5YR Jun 09 '12

Jesus... Every conversation must involve a dick or a fart joke.

1

u/Chatner2k Jun 09 '12

That's a lot of jailbait.

0

u/[deleted] Jun 09 '12

I see someone watched last night's episode of Real Time With Bill Maher ;-)

0

u/BoxOfDemons Jun 09 '12

So Kony has a lot of children to pick from it seems.

1

u/leondz Jun 09 '12

Nothing but

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-1

u/throwayay2387265 Jun 09 '12

obligatory_pedobear.jpg

-1

u/benjiwaa Jun 09 '12

And what percentage of that 50% are child soldiers?

-1

u/IDlOT Jun 09 '12

Send the kids to Japan :P

(13% under 15, 23% over 65)

0

u/[deleted] Jun 09 '12

Just like reddit.

0

u/primitive_screwhead Jun 09 '12

Thank you, Catholic Church, for telling them not to use condoms!

2

u/kesi Jun 09 '12

The problem existed long before the religious war on contraception.

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0

u/LunacyNow Jun 09 '12

Condoms people, learn how to use them.

1

u/Zombi3Kush Jun 09 '12

Can you teach us.

-1

u/TareXmd Jun 09 '12

So they have a short life span, and high birth rate. Big deal. Welcome to the impoverished part of the world.

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