Population and Development

Book excerpt: Population and Development addresses important issues at the heart of the problems of developing countries. How these countries address the common difficulties of population growth, including mortality and fertility decline, population redistribution including internal migration and urbanization, and also international migration, for both source countries and for destination countries. How and why has population change affected development – both positively and negatively? How and why has development affected population change – both growth and distribution? The book opens with an introduction, preceding the ten substantive chapters, covering some of the broader issues for population studies and development studies and the relationships between them. The first three chapters set out the main concepts and theoretical discussions on how population affects development and also how development affects population. Detailed chapters then cover each of the three main components of population change – fertility, mortality and finally migration. These are followed by chapters on the impacts of age structures, including the potential for a demographic dividend, and of the more qualitative aspects of human resource development through formal education and ICTs, with further chapters on population policies and population futures. The book incorporates illustrative text boxes and case studies on regions in Africa, the Middle East and Asia which elaborate the broader theoretical and conceptual substance of the ten major chapters. Each chapter has ‘Discussion Questions’ and ‘Sources and Further Reading’ sections, and there is an extensive integrated References section. The arguments of the book bring together a large but fairly loosely integrated literature from population studies, development studies and geography in a conceptually coordinated, empirically wide-ranging and challenging discussion. It is targeted at an audience in undergraduate courses in Geography and in Masters courses in Development Studies and Population Studies. The books succinct but erudite structure means it can be used either as a course text book, or as a basic reference on a range of current issues and likely concerns at the interface between Geography, Development Studies and Population Studies.