Gibbs
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Interesting study of recent developments and improvements that need to be done to become on par with more developed nations
It's a long article so just posted some important excepts.. @Godman , @NGV-H @Saradiel
The main article is here http://www.island.lk/index.php?page_cat=article-details&page=article-details&code_title=153129
Sri Lanka’s achievements and challenges
Children in Sri Lanka:
Sri Lanka has made major advances in ensuring the welfare of children in many fields, especially in health and education. Many challenges remain. Some of these challenges are long standing. Others have emerged recently. This article highlights some achievements that Sri Lanka has made for her children and draws attention to some challenges primarily based on recent national statistics.
As at 2012 the population of Sri Lanka stands at 20.5 million. Population growth rates show very clear decline since 1953 and remains at average annual growth rate of 1.1 percent during 1981 – 2012. The total child population in Sri Lanka in 2012/2013 was 4,451,229 of which 50.7 percent are males. At 2012, an estimated 4.3 million children aged 0–17 lived in Sri Lanka. Boys made up a slightly higher proportion of the child population than girls (51% compared with 49%).
Over the last decades, Sri Lanka has made impressive strides to provide most of its children with access to health, nutrition, education and social welfare. A brief assessment of current status of children is presented here.
Changing age and sex structure
During the past decades the total size, age and sex structure of Sri Lanka’s population have changed significantly. For the purpose of demographic analysis, age structure can be divided into three broad groups: children (<15 years), working age (15 – 59 years) and elderly (60 years and above). Such an age structure has major implications on socio-economic conditions of the country. Percentage of child population in 2012 was 25.2 and has been declining from a level of 35.2 percent in 1981, while the percentage of elderly population has doubled to 12.4 percent in the same period. On the other hand, working age population is 62.4 percent in 2012 and shows an increase from 58.2 percent in 1981.Growth of working age population is conducive to economic development, provided it is made use of for economic productivity. It is a window of opportunity for not only for economic growth but also for overall enhancement of peoples wellbeing.
Child dependency ratio is a ratio of people below working age (under 15) to workforce of a country. It is seen that Child dependents have decreased from 61 to 40 during 1981 to 2012 due to decrease in child population. Greater proportions of elderly population are replacing the child population which leads to an increase in the index of aging. This is more prominent after 1980’s. Index of aging is an indicator used to measure structural shift of aged population in relation to child population. It gives the number of aged persons of 60 years and above per 100 children under age 15. In 2015, there are 49 elderly persons per 100 children under age 15. This is more than twofold increase from 19 in 1981.
One reason for declining child population is the falling fertility rates. Fertility varies with age. It is summarized into a single index in the "Total Fertility Rate" (TFR). The total fertility rate is the number of children that would be born per woman if she were to live to the end of her child-bearing years and bear children at each age in accordance with prevailing age-specific fertility rates. Fertility began declining in Sri Lanka during the 1960s. In 1953; TFR was 5.3; by 1971 it was 4.2 and from then began a rapid decline. Between 1995 and 2000 it reached its lowest levels at 1.9 but in 2006-07 it recovered slightly to 2.3 and is estimated to have reached 2.4 in 2011.
Education
Preschools are important in molding a child. What a child learns and the environment she is exposed to in the first five years have a profound effect in her life, according to psychologists. Over the years, preschool enrollment has increased rapidly in Sri Lanka. The 2011 census data shows that nearly 45 percent of children aged 3 years are attending pre-school. Over 85 percent of children aged 4 years and 20.5 percent of five-year-old children attend a pre-school. These figures show that all children below the age schooling are sent to preschools for some time.
Regular attendance and participation in schooling is an important factor in educational and life success. Children’s attendance in schools is at very high level. Majority of children in age groups 6-10 years and 11-14 years are attending a school. Age group 5-14 years is declared as compulsory age for schooling. Percentage attending a school in age group 5 years is 75 percent. Percentages corresponding to 15 – 16 years and 11 – 14 years are 96 and 94 percent respectively.
According to findings of surveys, in 2012/13, majority of the children (91.0%) of the estimated total number of 4,451,229 children in the age group of 5 – 17 years are currently attending school. Percentage of those who are not currently attending to any educational activities is as low as 4.5 percent. This achievement is exemplarity by international standards. However, children not enrolled in school may be a small as a percentage, but in numbers it is significant.
Computer literacy and language literacy of children are considerably very high. One third of children in the age group of 5 – 17 of Sri Lankan children are computer literate. Language literacy rate of children in 10 – 17 years is almost 100 percent. Again the challenge that we must meet is provide access to all children.
Sri Lanka has won the battle of providing almost universal access to education for her children. The country needs to take up the challenge of making the quality of that education meet the highest possible standards.
Working children
According to the Child Activity survey conducted in 2008, out of the 4,338,700 children in the country, the estimated total children in child labour and hazardous child labour are 107,000 and 64,000 respectively. Accordingly, estimated child labour and hazardous child labour are as low as 2.5 percent and 1.5 percent respectively. Yet, we must strive to see that no child needs to destroy his potential by being forced into untimely and hazardous labour.
Healthcare
It is well known that, Sri Lanka has made remarkable achievements in improving maternal and child health since independence.
Access to health services in Sri Lanka is universal. Availability of health services for Sri Lanka children has improved through the years. In 2014, there were 190 pediatricians and 12 pediatric surgeons. Number of pediatric beds available was 11,693. Additionally, the country has a wide network of primary health care institutions and services.
Mortality rates among infants and children indicate ability of families and the government to provide for their basic health and nutrition needs. The country has shown considerable progress in this aspect since 1990. In particular, under-five mortality went down from 22.5 in 1992 to 10.0 per 1,000 live births in 2013. Infant mortality decreased from 17.9 to 8.2 per 1000 live births. Neonatal mortality rate too went down from 13 in 1993 to 5.8 in 2013. The decline in mortality rate through the years have been parallel to the increasing access to skilled care. Attendance by a trained health care professional at birth is a factor that is largely responsible for preventing maternal deaths. The proportion of birth attended by a health professional has continued to improve and stands at 99.9 percent.
Children are given the basic vaccines for these diseases during their first year of life. These are BCG, measles, DPT, and polio vaccine. Reported coverage for BCG is 91 percent and it is for other exceeds 95 percent in 2014. Commendably Sri Lanka was one of the early countries to be declared polio free internationally.
Prevalence of chronic illnesses among Sri Lanka children is very low. The reported percentage of children in the age group of 5 – 17 having a chronic illness is as low as 3.3 percent.
According to family health Bureau, in 2014, out of all registered pregnancies, about 5 percent have been teen age pregnancies.
Functional difficulties
Children with functional difficulties can have diverse physical, sensory, intellectual and psychiatric impairments that restrict their full involvement in society. In the 2012 Census of Population, a total of 1,442,586 were reported to have disability, around 1.6 percent of the total population. Of this estimate, roughly 333,269 (or 23% of the total) were children aged below 18. Around one percent of all children in the country have at least one type of disability. Slightly larger proportion (55%) of these children were boys.
Poverty
The percentage of the national population that lives in poverty has declined by about 20 percentage points between 1990/91 (26.1%) and 2012/13 (6.7%). Parallel to the same trend poor children’s percentage too has declined dramatically from 19.7 percent in 2006/2007 to 8.6 percent in 2012/2013. Children in the household in poverty may be relatively small as a percentage but they are sizable numbers.
Shelter and utilities
Similar to the national level trend, the quality of housing units with children in the age group of 5 to 17 years has improved to a larger extent. For example, the percentage of permanent type housing units has increased from 71.7 percent in 2006/2007 to 82.4 percent in 2012/2013. Little over 80 percent of them live in single floor single houses while another 7.3 percent double floor single houses. Little over 90 percent of them have access to sanitary facilities connected with water seal pit/tank. Severe deprivation to safe water refers to that when one obtains water from unsafe sources such as springs, rivers, streams, rain, and peddlers. In 2012/13, it was reported that around 80 percent of the children in the age group of 5 to 17 years have access to safe drinking water. Principal source of lighting for about 90 percent of the children in the above age group is Electricity. While much remains to be done, these are commendable achievements.
Access to information
Due to the technological advancement and phenomenal rise of computer and Smart phones, there are only a little left behind. In 2012/13, 432,770 children in the age group of 5 to 17 years, or 84.6 percent of the total have a mobile phone; 19 percent have a computer; 70 percent have a radio; 83 percent have a TV. Availability of high level of access to these items may have contributed to better quality of life for children.
It's a long article so just posted some important excepts.. @Godman , @NGV-H @Saradiel
The main article is here http://www.island.lk/index.php?page_cat=article-details&page=article-details&code_title=153129
Sri Lanka’s achievements and challenges
Children in Sri Lanka:
Sri Lanka has made major advances in ensuring the welfare of children in many fields, especially in health and education. Many challenges remain. Some of these challenges are long standing. Others have emerged recently. This article highlights some achievements that Sri Lanka has made for her children and draws attention to some challenges primarily based on recent national statistics.
As at 2012 the population of Sri Lanka stands at 20.5 million. Population growth rates show very clear decline since 1953 and remains at average annual growth rate of 1.1 percent during 1981 – 2012. The total child population in Sri Lanka in 2012/2013 was 4,451,229 of which 50.7 percent are males. At 2012, an estimated 4.3 million children aged 0–17 lived in Sri Lanka. Boys made up a slightly higher proportion of the child population than girls (51% compared with 49%).
Over the last decades, Sri Lanka has made impressive strides to provide most of its children with access to health, nutrition, education and social welfare. A brief assessment of current status of children is presented here.
Changing age and sex structure
During the past decades the total size, age and sex structure of Sri Lanka’s population have changed significantly. For the purpose of demographic analysis, age structure can be divided into three broad groups: children (<15 years), working age (15 – 59 years) and elderly (60 years and above). Such an age structure has major implications on socio-economic conditions of the country. Percentage of child population in 2012 was 25.2 and has been declining from a level of 35.2 percent in 1981, while the percentage of elderly population has doubled to 12.4 percent in the same period. On the other hand, working age population is 62.4 percent in 2012 and shows an increase from 58.2 percent in 1981.Growth of working age population is conducive to economic development, provided it is made use of for economic productivity. It is a window of opportunity for not only for economic growth but also for overall enhancement of peoples wellbeing.
Child dependency ratio is a ratio of people below working age (under 15) to workforce of a country. It is seen that Child dependents have decreased from 61 to 40 during 1981 to 2012 due to decrease in child population. Greater proportions of elderly population are replacing the child population which leads to an increase in the index of aging. This is more prominent after 1980’s. Index of aging is an indicator used to measure structural shift of aged population in relation to child population. It gives the number of aged persons of 60 years and above per 100 children under age 15. In 2015, there are 49 elderly persons per 100 children under age 15. This is more than twofold increase from 19 in 1981.
One reason for declining child population is the falling fertility rates. Fertility varies with age. It is summarized into a single index in the "Total Fertility Rate" (TFR). The total fertility rate is the number of children that would be born per woman if she were to live to the end of her child-bearing years and bear children at each age in accordance with prevailing age-specific fertility rates. Fertility began declining in Sri Lanka during the 1960s. In 1953; TFR was 5.3; by 1971 it was 4.2 and from then began a rapid decline. Between 1995 and 2000 it reached its lowest levels at 1.9 but in 2006-07 it recovered slightly to 2.3 and is estimated to have reached 2.4 in 2011.
Education
Preschools are important in molding a child. What a child learns and the environment she is exposed to in the first five years have a profound effect in her life, according to psychologists. Over the years, preschool enrollment has increased rapidly in Sri Lanka. The 2011 census data shows that nearly 45 percent of children aged 3 years are attending pre-school. Over 85 percent of children aged 4 years and 20.5 percent of five-year-old children attend a pre-school. These figures show that all children below the age schooling are sent to preschools for some time.
Regular attendance and participation in schooling is an important factor in educational and life success. Children’s attendance in schools is at very high level. Majority of children in age groups 6-10 years and 11-14 years are attending a school. Age group 5-14 years is declared as compulsory age for schooling. Percentage attending a school in age group 5 years is 75 percent. Percentages corresponding to 15 – 16 years and 11 – 14 years are 96 and 94 percent respectively.
According to findings of surveys, in 2012/13, majority of the children (91.0%) of the estimated total number of 4,451,229 children in the age group of 5 – 17 years are currently attending school. Percentage of those who are not currently attending to any educational activities is as low as 4.5 percent. This achievement is exemplarity by international standards. However, children not enrolled in school may be a small as a percentage, but in numbers it is significant.
Computer literacy and language literacy of children are considerably very high. One third of children in the age group of 5 – 17 of Sri Lankan children are computer literate. Language literacy rate of children in 10 – 17 years is almost 100 percent. Again the challenge that we must meet is provide access to all children.
Sri Lanka has won the battle of providing almost universal access to education for her children. The country needs to take up the challenge of making the quality of that education meet the highest possible standards.
Working children
According to the Child Activity survey conducted in 2008, out of the 4,338,700 children in the country, the estimated total children in child labour and hazardous child labour are 107,000 and 64,000 respectively. Accordingly, estimated child labour and hazardous child labour are as low as 2.5 percent and 1.5 percent respectively. Yet, we must strive to see that no child needs to destroy his potential by being forced into untimely and hazardous labour.
Healthcare
It is well known that, Sri Lanka has made remarkable achievements in improving maternal and child health since independence.
Access to health services in Sri Lanka is universal. Availability of health services for Sri Lanka children has improved through the years. In 2014, there were 190 pediatricians and 12 pediatric surgeons. Number of pediatric beds available was 11,693. Additionally, the country has a wide network of primary health care institutions and services.
Mortality rates among infants and children indicate ability of families and the government to provide for their basic health and nutrition needs. The country has shown considerable progress in this aspect since 1990. In particular, under-five mortality went down from 22.5 in 1992 to 10.0 per 1,000 live births in 2013. Infant mortality decreased from 17.9 to 8.2 per 1000 live births. Neonatal mortality rate too went down from 13 in 1993 to 5.8 in 2013. The decline in mortality rate through the years have been parallel to the increasing access to skilled care. Attendance by a trained health care professional at birth is a factor that is largely responsible for preventing maternal deaths. The proportion of birth attended by a health professional has continued to improve and stands at 99.9 percent.
Children are given the basic vaccines for these diseases during their first year of life. These are BCG, measles, DPT, and polio vaccine. Reported coverage for BCG is 91 percent and it is for other exceeds 95 percent in 2014. Commendably Sri Lanka was one of the early countries to be declared polio free internationally.
Prevalence of chronic illnesses among Sri Lanka children is very low. The reported percentage of children in the age group of 5 – 17 having a chronic illness is as low as 3.3 percent.
According to family health Bureau, in 2014, out of all registered pregnancies, about 5 percent have been teen age pregnancies.
Functional difficulties
Children with functional difficulties can have diverse physical, sensory, intellectual and psychiatric impairments that restrict their full involvement in society. In the 2012 Census of Population, a total of 1,442,586 were reported to have disability, around 1.6 percent of the total population. Of this estimate, roughly 333,269 (or 23% of the total) were children aged below 18. Around one percent of all children in the country have at least one type of disability. Slightly larger proportion (55%) of these children were boys.
Poverty
The percentage of the national population that lives in poverty has declined by about 20 percentage points between 1990/91 (26.1%) and 2012/13 (6.7%). Parallel to the same trend poor children’s percentage too has declined dramatically from 19.7 percent in 2006/2007 to 8.6 percent in 2012/2013. Children in the household in poverty may be relatively small as a percentage but they are sizable numbers.
Shelter and utilities
Similar to the national level trend, the quality of housing units with children in the age group of 5 to 17 years has improved to a larger extent. For example, the percentage of permanent type housing units has increased from 71.7 percent in 2006/2007 to 82.4 percent in 2012/2013. Little over 80 percent of them live in single floor single houses while another 7.3 percent double floor single houses. Little over 90 percent of them have access to sanitary facilities connected with water seal pit/tank. Severe deprivation to safe water refers to that when one obtains water from unsafe sources such as springs, rivers, streams, rain, and peddlers. In 2012/13, it was reported that around 80 percent of the children in the age group of 5 to 17 years have access to safe drinking water. Principal source of lighting for about 90 percent of the children in the above age group is Electricity. While much remains to be done, these are commendable achievements.
Access to information
Due to the technological advancement and phenomenal rise of computer and Smart phones, there are only a little left behind. In 2012/13, 432,770 children in the age group of 5 to 17 years, or 84.6 percent of the total have a mobile phone; 19 percent have a computer; 70 percent have a radio; 83 percent have a TV. Availability of high level of access to these items may have contributed to better quality of life for children.
