An Inquiry into the Relationship between Population Growth and Development: The Case of Malawi and Kenya

Abstract

This paper sought to analyze the relationship between population growth and development. The motivation is that population growth has been blamed as a cause of being under development in LDS (Least Developed Countries). This is a descriptive study employing review of secondary data and reports. There is no direct relationship between population growth and being under development. This is supported by countries which are populous yet their economies are growing fast enabling them to graduate from developing and donor reliant to developed and donating countries. China and India are examples. Again, data show that socioeconomic indicators were not any better when population sizes were low in the last 3 to 4 decades. Countries should focus on sound economic management to improve the supply side of goods and services which ultimately will result in reduced population growth as one of the effects. It is concluded that the notion of high population is built on the experienced and anticipated challenges in supplying goods and services that meet the demand and not on any standard measure as to what is standard population size for a country of a given physical size and natural resources.