Mech Dara | The Phnom Penh Post
Published July 15, 2019 | 07:40 ICT

Minister of Interior Sar Kheng on Saturday urged people to have five children per family so the Kingdom's population could double to more than 32 million.

He said the recent census found that Cambodia has a population of 15.2 million, but the country is large enough to have twice as many.

Sorn Kheng said that some countries have begun to fear increased population, especially those with economies growing and those whose people consider themselves too busy with work. In a groundbreaking ceremony for a temple in Prey Veng province on Saturday,

"The more children you have, the better it is - but too many are not good. Five or six is ​​good, with five on average. "

In 1979, the Khmer Rouge killed many people and there were only five million left. Now it has increased to 15 million but that is still not enough. "

Well I don’t mind helping out with this one.

DaveG wrote: ↑Tue Jul 16, 2019 10:19 am Well I don’t mind helping out with this one.

as they say in Russia - I would vdul. (difficult to translate... )))

Unless they suddenly pull their fingers out of their arses and massively increase food production then everyone having five kids is going to seriously strain. It's a pretty dumb suggestion to tell poor people to have loads of kids they can't afford to feed, clothe or send to school.

cptrelentless wrote: ↑Tue Jul 16, 2019 11:45 am It's a pretty dumb suggestion to tell poor people to have loads of kids they can't afford to feed, clothe or send to school.

Exactly....like Sar Kheng is really in touch with the plight of the hoi polloi.

He probably isn't even aware of the increase in traffic congestion, what with his police escorted motorcades blasting across town at speed when it's time for his mid-afternoon bor-bor.

this has to be one of the most ridiculous statements to come out of the government in a long time. A large reason the economy has improved is that people are delaying having kids and saving up money to build a better future. Only the very rich could afford five children, to get them all educated, fed, clothed and kept healthy. Anyone else will either be (a) living in abject poverty dragging Cambodia back to a low income country or (b) letting 5 kids live with granny or ming in the countryside whilst they slog their guts out in a garment factory/KTV/Girl Bar.

Sort out the education system at the public schools, which can barely cope with the number of kids there are, support food security by ensuring the water tables arent screwed by ill-thought out development and storage and preparation of food is done properly and lakes aren't overfished, improve and strengthen the health care system, improve sanitation, ensure these casinos are paying a proper corporate tax, fix the ruining of the environment and ensure your country can support 16 million people adequately before releasing some stupid statement of wanting 30 million in 10 years....it isn't sustainable growth....Most khmers know this which is why the birth rate slowed, so they can save money and give a bright future to their kids , they want only 2-3 kids but hey you want to drag the country back to 1993, by all means 5 kids, or hey why stop at 5 make it 10