5 The consequences of rapid population growth - World Bank

5 The consequences of rapid population growthThis chapter shows that rapid populationgrowthat rates above 2 percent, common in mostdeveloping countries todayacts as a brake ondevelopment. Up to a point, population growthcan be accommodated: in the past three decadesmany countries have managed to raise averageincome even as their populations grew rapidly. Inthat strict sense, population growth has beenaccommodated. But the goal of developmentextends beyond accommodation of an ever largerpopulation; it is to improve people's lives. Rapidpopulation growth in developing countries hasresulted in less progress than might have beenlost opportunities for raising living standards, par-ticularly among the large numbers of the World ' conclusion that rapid population growth hasslowed development is by no means straightfor-ward or clearcut (see Box ).

criticism, extended, leads to the argu-ment that there are no real natural resource limits, because population growth itself brings the adjustments that continually put off doomsday. To quote from Julian Simon's book, The Ultimate Resource: "The ultimate resource is peo-pleskilled, spirited, and hopeful peo-plewho will exert their wills and imagi-

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  Growth, Population, Ment, Argus, Population growth, Argu ment

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