Okay it is official: Samoa’s national population has increased by 4 per cent according to the Samoa Bureau of Statistics.

In recent years reference to the country’s population has always been somewhere between 198,000 and 200,000 – and we’ve always accepted those estimates for our purposes – without feeling the need to put those figures under detailed scrutiny, in order to ascertain and arrive at the most accurate figures.  

However, the bureau this week released a report based on data collected during the 2021 Samoa Population Housing Census, with the findings officially launched this week by the Bureau of Statistics. 

An article (Samoa’s population up by 4%) in the Thursday 08 December 2022 edition of the Samoa Observer reported on the details of the census, especially the country’s national population, as it now stands following the last census in 2016.

According to the executive summary of the report dated 6 November 2021, the total population of Samoa is now 205,557 (with 51 per cent male and 49 per cent female). 

The new count showed an increase of 9,578 more people compared to the total population of 195,979 which was recorded in the country's last census in 2016. 

Breaking down the statistics, Upolu continues to have the lion’s share of the country's population with 78 per cent or 160,334 people. 

More specifically, the growth in Upolu has been in the north-west region (37 per cent) and less in the central Apia urban area region (18 per cent).  

“Faleata is the most populated district and Falealupo is the least populated district (0.4 per cent) among the 51 political districts,” the report recorded. 

So what is the significance of population growth and what does it mean for our island nation’s development? 

There is a strong link between population growth and economic output. Managing our population growth well can ensure there is less pressure on resources and future development can be sustainable and inclusive.

A rapid increase in population growth can over the long-term throw the spanner in the works of a nation’s attempts to achieve social and economic development. For a government, it can also translate to a rise in public expenditure on programs to eradicate challenges in the community, such as poverty or access to healthcare, education and other essential services.

Early this week the outgoing National University of Samoa (NUS) Vice Chancellor and President and incoming Health Director General, Aiono Professor Alec Ekeroma revealed that Samoa’s health sector is currently short of 500 nurses.

Juxtapose that massive shortage in nursing numbers against the country’s new population figure of 205,557 and it should immediately dawn on you the challenges that Samoa could face in the health sector in the near future.

One of the key questions now is whether the country should continue on the current trajectory in terms of its population growth and what could be the possible outcomes for Samoa?

We believe the 4 per cent population growth increase is worrying as there is already evidence of rising poverty among families who live in Samoa’s urban centres. 

As an example, look at Apia’s child street vendors, who based on a rapid assessment survey by an NUS team in July this year concluded that their numbers have increased by 27 per cent.

Therefore, are the increasing child street vendor numbers a symptom of a society losing its battle to save families on the brink of poverty? And if there are more child street vendors out and about in Apia today, where does that place them in terms of their vulnerability to themselves and the community they live in?

It is time for our leaders in both the Government, civil society (including the churches and faith-based organisations) and the private sector to have serious discussions about the country’s population growth rate, and begin to join the dots on the long-term repercussions of taking a business as usual approach.

The fact that close to 80 per cent of the country’s population reside in Upolu and not Savai’i should be analysed further, to determine how much of an impact it is having on the availability of resources on this island, including land and financial resources to build proper housing.

What about family planning and the introduction of sex education in the curriculum of schools? Shouldn’t this be considered to stem the rise in teenage pregnancies and arrest the phenomenon of young people becoming early parents, while unemployed and still under the care of their mothers and fathers. What role should the churches play in this debate and should they become more vocal?

Sitting on the fence shouldn’t be an option to address an issue such as population control, especially when it is obvious today that if we fail then we also fail the next generation of Samoans.