Renowned economist Andrews Kwame Pianim has underscored the importance of population control for Ghana's development in an interview on JoyNews' PM Express.

Mr. Pianim highlighted the repercussions of uncontrolled population growth, emphasizing its impact on education, infrastructure, and more, stating, "If you don’t modulate your population, you’ll have more mouths to feed."

With the current annual population growth rate at 2.1%, he projects that Ghana's population could reach 69 million by 2057, expressing concerns about accommodation.

However, he suggests that strategic management could help Ghana aim for a more sustainable figure.Emphasizing that high population growth impedes development, Mr. Pianim points out the correlation between wealth, education, and lower fertility rates.

“You cannot develop with a high population growth rate.

That is impossible. No nation has developed with an annual population growth rate of 2 percent or more,” he said on Wednesday.

“The problem is this, if you don’t modulate your population, you have more mouths to feed, education, and infrastructure for the people. And when I tried to do our population, 2057, how big will we be? If we go on the trend that we are on, a 2.1 per cent annual rate of growth, we will be almost 70 million, 69 million people. Where are we going to put all these 69 million people?

He stressed the need for controlled population growth to achieve development goals.Drawing parallels between economic challenges faced by households with many children and the national scenario, Mr. Pianim concludes by cautioning that initiatives like Free Senior High School (SHS) could strain the national budget without addressing population growth.

He called for proactive measures to modulate population growth, asserting its integral role in Ghana’s sustainable development.

To alter the current trajectory, Mr. Pianim emphasizes the need to lower the annual rate of population growth and reduce the average number of children per woman.