012774 North Africa Plans Birth Control

By HENRY GINIGER

ALGIERS-North Africa, whose biggest production is people is worried. Neither Tunisia, Algeria nor Morocco can handle her present population, let alone the big increases that come every year.

Will Europe, now faced with economic recession, close Its doors to all those who need to seek abroad the jobs they cannot find at home?

At the moment, close to a million North Africans are working in Europe while their home countries struggle desperately to develop their economies so that all oF those old enough to work can do so at home. But even In Algeria, where development prospects are the brightest, population experts predict that until 1980, no sizable dent will have been made In the backlog of unemployment and underemployment.

West Germany recently Instituted a temporary halt on further entry of foreign labor. Relatively few North Africans work there, but the measure was, nonetheless, seen as a sign of hard times to come.

In France, where the bulk of Algerians, Tunisians and Moroccans have gone, a slowdown Is forecast in 1974, with a consequent Increase in unemployment. Even though there may be no mass return to North Africa, It Is feared that France could also cut off further entries.

The dimming prospects In Europe have underscored the urgency of meeting the population problem at home. But differing ideologies and economic outlooks have meant different approaches.

With capitalist economies and few internal financial resources, Morocco and Tunisia are promoting foreign investment In job-creating industries. Both have formulated liberal investment codes givIng  big tax advantages and other facilities to outsiders.

Algeria's Socialist- oriented Government has kept foreign investment at a relatively low level, confining it mainly to oil exploration where foreign techniques are needed. Meanwhile, with the oil they already have, with the natural gas reserves that are now being developed and with sizable foreign loans, the Algerians are creating a state-managed industry on a scale previously unknown in the Arab world.

But North Africa's population is increasing at an average rate of some 2.8 per cent annually, creating huge budgetary demands for housing education and health, and to a large extent nullifying economic progress.

Partly because her resources and development prospects are he poorest, Tunisia has emphasized population-growth limits much more than Algeria and Morocco.

Less bound by centuries of Islamic tradition, which sees a blessing in large families, than other Arab leaders, President Habib Bourguiba has, in fact, made Tunisia a pioneer In the Arab world In the field of birth control. The most spectacular example came last September when, Tunisia legalized unrestricted abortion and made it available without charge in public clinics, one of the few countries in the world to do so.

Population control has now become an integral part of economic planning under a semi-autonomous office. A birth-control policy had been in effect for more than 10 years, but results were only modest until now because of bad organization lack of personnel and lack of Information.

Without such controls, It is believed that Tunisia's population would increase from the present 5.5 million to 13 million by 2000. With planning, it is hoped to restrict the total to 10 million. In the meantime, Tunisia is able to generate only 30,000 new jobs a year, against 50,000 new job needs. Consequently, 200,000 Tunisians are in Europe -and in booming Libya.

Algeria Is curiously traditionalist in matters affecting women and the family, despite the revolutionary talk one hears. Population control has not been openly promoted, and President Houarj Bournediene has, indeed, deprecated such efforts, saying that they have not worked anywhere up to now.

the official thesis is that with development, the population~ increase, now put at 3.4 per cent annually will slow down naturally as It has in industrialized countries. The President has also said that Algeria could easily support a population of 20 million, but it may go to twice that by the end of the century, If the present growth rate remains unchecked.

But despite the official reticence, birth control Is being practiced in Algeria, albeit with no publicity. Some 170,000 women are said to be taking the pill, and the program as a whole is presented as a health measure, part of the services that are devoted to the protection of mothers and children.

Some 450,000 workers are In France. The Government has proclaimed as its goal' their repatriation, but with a million unemployed or underemployed at home, such a mass return is not for tomorrow, even with frequently recurring anti-Arab Incidents in France. In remittances alone, French jobs mean some $300-mfllion a year in badly needed foreign exchange.

Officially, Morocco has 350,000 workers abroad, many more if clandestine workers are Included. In 1973 they were estimated by King Hassan 2d to have sent back some $230-million. But the population pressures at home are still enormous and were a big factor In the program begun In 1973 to recover foreign-owned lands.

Population growth Is estimated at 2.7 to 3 percent, and the present total of 16.3 million is expected to grow to almost 26 million by 1990, even assuming that contraceptives come into general use.

Because there Is much hostility of a religious and nationalistic nature, birth control has not been pushed by the Government, rather the task of enlisting public support has been left in private hands and these groups have not operated to any great extent in the rural areas, where the bulk of the population lives.

Where facilities are available, they are said to be readily accepted, as Is the case throughout North Africa. Officials say that with better health facilities and education, a "social conscience" will develop and slow down the birth rate.

In the years before such a conscience takes hold, Morocco is threatened with a steadily increasing unemployment problem, aggravated by the steady move from farm to city, unless investment is vastly stepped up in both industrial and rural development. If the European safety valve were to be cut off, Morocco, like Algeria and Tunisia, would face critical moments before things got better.