Why population is the cause for underdevelopment in the less developed countries (LDC's)

Arguments that Population is not the main Cause of underdevelopment
According to those who claim that population is not the cause of poor economic development
three lines of arguments are made:
(i) it is not a problem; (ii) it is falsified deliberately by the
dominant rich country agencies and institutions to keep developing countries in their dependent
condition; (iii) population growth for many developing nations is desirable.

(i) It is not a Problem
Underdevelopment
It is argued that underdevelopment is the real problem and thus, development should be the
only goal of nations. This is because if correct strategies are pursued they could lead to higher
levels of living, greater self-esteem and expanded freedom and population will take care of
itself by disappearing as a problem. Higher living standards, economic progress and social
mechanisms will more or less automatically regulate population growth and distribution. With
perpetual impoverishment, poor education attainment, poor health status and weak social safety
nets in developing countries, large families will constitute the only real resource of social
security. Therefore birth control programmes will even fail when families do not have the
incentives to limit the size of their families.
World Resource Depletion and Environmental Destruction
Population might be an economic problem with respect to the availability and utilization of
scarce natural and material resources. The world’s natural and materials are used
disproportionately. For example, developed nations constitutes less than 25% of the world’s
population but consume about 80% of total world resources. The implication is that in terms
of natural resource depletion, one additional child in the developed world is as significant as
the birth of many times as many additional children in underdeveloped countries. Therefore,
develop nations should cut down their excessively high consumption standards instead of
asking less developed countries to restrict their population growth. Higher fertility rates in less
develop nations are due to low living standards which is caused by the over consumption of
the world’s scarce resources by rich nations. These extravagant consumption habits and rising
affluence in rich countries are rather the major causes of under development and not population
growth.
Population Distribution
It is not the number of people that is causing population problems, but their distribution
spatially. Both at the world level and within countries, some regions are underpopulated in
terms of available or potential resources; others have too many people concentrated in too small
an area than others. Therefore, governments should strive to bring a more natural spatial
distribution of populations in terms of available land and other productive resources instead of trying to control population growth.
Subordination of Women
Women are often seen to bear the disproportionate burdens of poverty, poor education and
limited social mobility. Higher fertility in women are often the result of a combination of their
inferior roles, low status and restricted access to birth control. Therefore, population growth is
a natural outcome of women’s lack of economic opportunities. When women’s health,
education and economic power are improved along as well as their role and status both at the
family and community levels, then empowerment of women will inevitably lead to smaller
family and lower population growth.

(ii) It is a deliberate falsehood
This line of argument corresponds with the neo-colonial dependence theory of
underdevelopment. The over concern in rich nations with population growth of poor nations is
an attempt by rich nations to hold down the development of poor nations in order to maintain
an international status quo that is favourable to the rich nations’ self-interests. Increases in
population of the rich nations in the past accelerated their own development process and so
why push developing nations to control the growth in their populations? Some even consider
these attempts to push down growth in populations in less developed countries by the rich
nations as racist or genocidal attempts to reduce the relative or absolute size of the poor, mainly
non-white populations of the world who may someday pose a threat to the welfare of the rich
who are predominantly white societies. Thus, the worldwide birth control campaigns are
considered as fears of the developed world in the face of a possible radical challenge to the
international order by the people who are its first victims.

(iii) It is a Desirable Phenomenon
By this strand of argument, population growth is seen as an essential ingredient to stimulate
economic development. Larger populations are needed to provide consumer demand that
generate economies of scale in production, lower production costs and to provide sufficient
and low-cost labour for the achievement of higher output levels.

Argument that Population is a Real Problem

(i)The Extremist Argument: Population and global Crisis
The extremists of this line of argument attempt to attribute almost all of the world’s economic
and social problems to excessive population growth. To them, it causes poverty, low levels of
living, malnutrition, ill health, environmental degradation and a wide array of other social
problems.
(ii) Theoretical Argument: Population-Poverty Cycles and the Need for Family Planning Programmes
It is argued that population growth intensifies and exacerbates the economic, social and
psychological problems associated with the condition of underdevelopment. Population growth
retards the prospects for a better life for the already born by reducing savings rates at the
household level and national levels. It draws down limited government resources through the
provision of most rudimentary economic, health and social services to the additional people.
In turn, this further reduces the prospects for any improvement in the level of living of the
existing generation and helps transmit poverty to future generations of low-income families.
The basic model used to explain the adverse consequences of rapid population growth:
Y = f(K, L, R, T)
which implies output is a function of capital, labour, resources and
technology. Holding the resource base fixed, the following result is derived:
𝑦 − 𝑙 = 𝛼(𝑘 − 𝑙) + 𝑡
Where: 𝑦 = rate of GNI growth; 𝑙 = rate of labour force (population growth); 𝑘 = rate of
growth of the capital stock; 𝛼 = capital elasticity of output (usually constant); and 𝑡 = the
effect of technological change.
If we assume constant returns to scale, our equation implies that the rate of per capita income
growth (𝑦 − 𝑙) is directly proportional to the rate of growth of the capital-labour ratio (𝑘 − 𝑙)
plus the residual effects of technological progress which includes both improved human and
physical capital. Therefore, without technological change, the higher the rate of population
growth ((𝑙), the more rapid the rate of capital stock growth (𝑘) must be and thus, the greater
the savings and investment rate just to maintain constant levels of per capita income. Also,
because 𝑘 may not be independent of 𝑙 as it is often assumed in growth models but may be
inversely related to the reduced savings impact by the higher dependency burden effects of
rapid population growth. It then follows that the negative economic impact of population
growth may even be greater.
General Consequences of Population Growth: Empirical Evidence
a. Economic Growth
Empirical studies have shown that rapid population growth lowers per capita income growth
in most developing nations, especially those that are already poor, dependent on agriculture and experiencing pressures on land and natural resources.
b. Poverty and inequality
There is a strong statistical correlation between measures of poverty and population growth at
the household level even though not strong at the national level. Some of the consequences of
population growth affect mostly the poor because they are made landless, suffer most from cuts
in government health and education programmes and bear the burden of government austerity
programmes leading to another vicious circle.
c. Health
High fertility harms the health of mothers and children. It increases the health risks of
pregnancy and closely spaced births have been shown to reduce birth weight and increase child
mortality rates.
d. Food
Feeding the world’s population is made more difficult by rapid growth in population and a
large percentage of food needed in developing countries are as a result of population increases.
As the best lands have already been used, new technologies of production must be introduced
quickly and international food relief programmes have become widespread.
e. Environment
Surges in population growth contributes to environmental degradation in the form of forest
encroachment, deforestation, fuelwood depletion, soil erosion, declining fish and animal
stocks, inadequate and unsafe water, air pollution and urban congestion.
f. International Migration
International migration, both legal and illegal, has generally been considered as a consequence
of developing countries’ population growth. Excess of job seekers over job opportunities is one
of the many causes of international migration. The effect of this consequence falls on the
recipient nations, the developed nations.

Policy Options
There are three areas of policy that have been proposed and believed to have important direct
and indirect influences on the well-being of present and future world populations.
a. Long Run Policy Options for developing countries
Policies that target the development of nations as discussed under theories of development are
as good as targeting population growth targets. Key among these are:
I. eliminating absolute poverty,
ii. reducing income inequalities,
iii. expending on education opportunities, especially for women;
iv. Providing increased job opportunities for both men and women;
v. bringing the benefits of modern preventive medicine and public health programmes,
particularly the provision of clean water and sanitation, to rural and urban poor;
vi. improving maternal and child health through more food, better diets and improved
nutrition so as to lower infant mortality and
vii. Creating a more equitable provision of other social services to wider segments of
the population.

b. ***Short Run Policy Options to Developing Nations

---

I. Persuasion
Developing nation governments can persuade people to have smaller families through the
media and educational process, both formal (school system) and informal (adult education).
ii. Enhancement of family planning programmes
This can be done by providing health and contraceptive services to encourage the desired
behaviour.
iii. Manipulation of economic incentives and disincentives
This could be done deliberately through the:
 elimination or reduction of maternity leaves and benefits,
 the reduction or elimination of financial incentives, or the imposition of financial
penalties for having children beyond a certain number;
 the establishment of old-age social security provisions
 minimum-age child labour laws
 the raising of school fees
 the elimination of heavy public subsidies for higher education
 the subsidization of smaller families through direct money payments
iv. Government coercion
This is by coercing people into having smaller families through legislation and penalties.
However, this approach will have negative political implications for the government.
v. Raising the social and economic status of women
When the social and economic status of women are enhanced, favourable conditions are created
for delayed marriage and the lowering of marital fertility. An effective policy that targets
reduced fertility rates must begin with increased education, followed by job opportunity for them outside the home