12. In spite of the declining annual average population growth rates, Zambia is placed as having one of the world’s highest growth rates. The 2000 census shows that the total population grew at an annual average growth rate of 2.4 percent during the period 1990-2000. In the previous intercensal periods, the population increased from 5,661,801 in 1980 by an annual average rate of 3.1 percent during 1969-1980 to 7,759,161 with an average growth rate of 2.7 percent from 1980 to 1990. 13. Zambia still has a young population given that it continues to bear a high proportion of persons below the age of 15 years; 45.3 percent in 2000 (see Table 14). This holds promise for continued increases in population as the young persons are expected to enter into reproductive ages (15–49 years) and contribute to the decreasing but high fertility levels of 7.2 in the 1980s to 5.9 in 2001/2002 (Box 1). At national level, there is still a difference of one child between the wanted fertility rate and the actual total fertility rate; with provincial variations indicating lower ideal and actual fertility rates for most urbanised provinces – Lusaka and Copperbelt (refer to figure 3). 22