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Imagine you’re one of the 179.6 million people in India living in extreme poverty. You’ve just found out you or your significant other is pregnant. A part of you is delighted at the idea of a new, gleaming face entering life. Yet, you can’t ignore the pit settling in your stomach as you try to imagine reallocating your already scarce resources to nourish another human being. According to Brandon Lozeau, a professor of international political economy at the University of Kent, this is exactly the situation millions in India and other developing countries like Pakistan face every year due to their deteriorating economy and increasing population. Population growth has a negative impact on the economy of developing countries by increasing the dependency ratio, putting a strain on healthcare, education and food supply and reducing the rate of capital formation and savings.
The negative economic effects of population growth largely lies in a decrease in the standard of living and resource availability. According to the article, “When population size is large, the standard of living will be low, and population will be reduced by either the ‘preventive check’ (intentional reduction of fertility) or by the ‘positive check’ (malnutrition, disease, and famine).” This affects the economy in two ways. Firstly, inadequate supply of food leads to undernourishment of the people which lowers their productivity. Secondly, the deficiency of food and resources requires countries to import food grains and other resources which places as unnecessarily strain on their foreign exchange resources.
Other negative economic impacts of population growth are a reduction in the rate of capital formation and an increase in unemployment. Underdeveloped countries like India are determined to increase capital formation. However, due to the rapid growth of population, availability of capital per head diminishes which reduces the productivity of its labor force. Their income, as a consequence, is reduced and their capacity to save is diminished which, in turn, reduces their capital formation. Additionally, unemployment becomes an issue with population growth because a large number of people enter the labor market and there are not enough jobs to employ them all. Those who do have jobs may experience pay reductions due to the progressive decline in the availability of capital per worker as explained above.
In conclusion, population growth has proven to be a negative force on the economies of developing countries.
FUTURE RESEARCH: I will explore how population growth has affected the environment/society?
