Deriving Niger’s Demographic and Education Future to 2062 with Stakeholders: Which Results?

Anne Goujon, International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis
Guillaume Marois, International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis (IIASA)
Patrick Sabourin, International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis (IIASA)

Niger has the fastest population growth in the world while being among the least developed countries. The rapid population growth that will continue in the medium to long term represents a planning challenge for Niger's development. Both demographic and education variables occupy a central position in the government strategy without being necessarily linked. However, the future of Niger will largely be a reflection of its ability to meet both challenges. Within a project piloted by the Ministry of Planning, we have studied different future paths of demographic and educational development with the aim to inform policy, using multi-state population projection models. The projections are developed for each regions that face different challenges. Results of the scenarios are presented in terms of educational and demographic developments, also looking at the impact of closing the gender gap in education, studying economic dependency ratios, and the costs of investments in education.