Can Botswana Optimise on Harnessing the Demographic Dividend?
Demography
30
Issue: 2
(11 - 2016)
Botswana has entered the window of opportunity as occasioned by the bulging labour force relative to
those outside. This paper seeks to give a narrative of Botswana’s population transition and drawing on
international experience endeavour to calibrate the extent to which the country might be able to
harness the dividend. To this end some variables that impact on the country’s ability to enhance
economic growth and development are analysed. The global competitiveness report has been the main
source of data used. Graphical presentations have been the mode of analysis used to calibrate on the
country’s relative competitiveness in the attraction of Foreign Direct Investment (FDI). The country has
shown a trend of a loss of competitiveness against other countries of late, a factor the authors argue
could tanish the country’s prospects of harnessing the dividend.
Keywords: Demographic Dividend, Economy, Investment, Population, Employment, Fertility, Mortality
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