Demographic Dividends in Sudan: Opportunities and Challenges

Abstract

This paper seeks to investigate the demographic dividends in Sudan by focusing on its opportunities and challenges. The concept of the demographic dividends has joined the domain of development after an examination of the East Asian "economic miracle", which occurred in the years the 1960s to 1990s. The overall objective of this paper is to probe potential socio-economic benefits generated by such chance and to see how Sudan is going to reap from the currently increasing working age population. The paper is depended mainly on a series of sources, including official censuses, international and national reports, and socio-economic surveys conducted in Sudan and abroad. The paper has come out with that, Sudan is lagging behind in getting maximum benefit out of the demographic windows and that even the decision makers are not aware of the demographic dividend. Lack of clear policy towards the youth, high rate of unemployment, massive informal migration, brain drain and lack of investment in human capital (development) are some barriers that shaped the situation of the population in Sudan. To benefit out of the opportunities of the demographic dividend, the paper suggested that Sudan should formulate proactive policies to control fertility, ensure high quality of education and vocational training. This paper also aims to enhance the knowledge of demographic dividend and open doors for further studies.