Population Exercise
All the economies have experienced a lower rate of population growth in 1990-99 than in 1980-99 apart from the UK, which has seen a small rise in its population growth rate.
Development helps improve education and health services so families tend to be smaller as there is a greater chance of children surviving to adulthood, and a lower infant mortality rate brings about development.
This causes a circular argument and different economists view the cause and effect differently. Malthus believed that rapid population growth was the cause of poverty, though many economists now view rapid population growth as unsustainable because of the greater burden it puts on scarce resources.
Others suggest that poverty causes the high population growth rates. Certainly intervention by a government (such as in China) helps to break the cause and effect cycle and aid the development of an economy.
These notes form a homework given in a lesson on 18/09/2004.
