Population growth and poverty in rural South Asia
- New Delhi Sage Publications. 1989
- 240p.
The pressure of a growing population on productive resources is often considered to be one of the major causes of continuing poverty in the countries of South Asia, as indeed in most developing countries. How ever, a closer look at the subject suggests that we do not fully understand the manner in which demographic patterns and poverty affect each other, the types of interactions which are important, and the ways in which they can influence the success or failure of various policy interventions.
The detailed studies of India, Pakistan, Bangladesh and Nepal which comprise this volume set out to examine these crucial relationships. Utilising diverse analytical tools, the essays examine the demographic components of poverty and the ways in which poverty results from or influences population structure and change. The studies range from the micro (or household) level to the national level, taking into ac count both the aggregate economic context and the prevalent social relations of production.
Major premises underlie the essays in this volume. First, that the indirect effects of population growth on poverty are as important as the direct ones. This is because population growth has a bearing on the balance of economic, social and technological forces involved in production and distribution in many different ways. Second, that poverty is a phenomenon with many dimensions, which may entail both absolute and relative deprivation. These dimensions in volve not only consumption levels but also other factors such as assets, health and edu cation. Therefore, the relationship between population growth and poverty is not unilinear. Rather, there is a web of inter linkages which has to be explored in order to determine the pattern of causation.
A major feature of this volume is its broad approach to an understanding of the link ages between population growth and pov erty and its stress on the economic and social dimensions of these linkages. As such, this book is in striking contrast to the 'de nominator approach which regards the primary effect of population growth to be an increase in the number of individuals placing demands on limited resources.
This book will be of considerable interest to economists, demographers, planners and policy-makers.