Culture, Catholics and Condoms

A critical problem facing many of the small island nations of the Pacific is the growing imbalance between population and resources. Families of five or more children are typical of traditional Pacific lifestyles, but in the majority of Pacific countries average population growth rates now exceed average economic growth rates, and there are growing rural-urban inequalities in access to services and wage employment opportunities. Some Pacific countries have used migration to offset natural population increase and earn remittances to supplement national income, but that strategy has several disadvantages, including a tendency to support high fertility. This article argues that despite efforts made by some Pacific countries to reduce their population growth rates, such strategies are unlikely to succeed unless families and communities can be convinced that future benefits from having smaller families will exceed the known advantages of a large family size. Recent initiatives to slow the rate of population increase in the atoll nation of Kiribati are examined and their prospects of success are evaluated in the light of Kiribati culture and prevailing attitudes.