CHAPTER
ONE
INTRODUCTION
1.1 Background Of The Study
The consequences of
population growth on the economic development of less developed countries are
not the same because the condition prevailing in these countries are quite
different from those of developed economy. Therefore the body of literature on
population growth in Nigeria has always emphasized either the negative or the
positive effect.
Therefore in every
discussion, it is conventional to start with a definition of terms used in such
discussion. However, population growth can be seen by a demographer as a change
in the size of the population. But when this change occurs in such a way that
it reduces the size of population, the demographer refers it as a negative
growth but when it adds to the size of the population he regards it as a
positive one. What we get from this concept is that population growth can be
positive or negative depending on whether there is an increase or decrease in the size of a given population. Population whether
positive or negative is derived from three demographic variables such as birth,
death and migration rates
Udabah (1999) Threw
more light on this by adding that birth and death rates in underdeveloped
countries are quite different from that of developed countries. Births rate in
underdeveloped are generally high, why those of developed countries are low. On
the other hand, death rates are higher in underdeveloped nations. The higher
rate of population growth is therefore a major characteristic of underdeveloped
nations and is partly responsible for the low rates of economic development.
Moreover, the
population of any country constitutes the most vital component of its resource
base. This aspect is based mostly on its size, growth rate, spatial
distribution, demographic structure and quality in terms of level of education,
fitness and social welfare. Population statistics are indispensable impute into
the planning process in any area.
To government issuing
programmes for instance in the efforts of government in the developing
countries to feed the people and also provide quality
services for them are being frustrated by rapid population growth. This growth
is attributable on the one hand to improvement in human survival associated
with the application of modern medical science to health matters, better
sanitation and immunization of children which have caused the death rate to
decrease.
On the other hand, so many socio-cultural issues
have complimented the growth of population in Nigeria positively (Lee and Miler
1990, Rennne 1995, Ainsword et al 1996).
Consequently, the world population has been
increasing and the last two decades have been demographically unprecedented as
it rose from 4.2 billion people in 1985 to 6.4 billion in 2010. Much of this
occurred in the developing nations as their population grew from 3.7 billion to
5.1 billion as against that of developed nation which grew from 1.1 billion to
1.2 billion over the same period (United Nation 2001 billion).
Nigerian’s population
is one of world and Nigeria is the most populous country in Africa, ranked the tenths
as obtained from two major sources, viz the 1991 census and the Population
Reference Bureau World Population Data Sheet.
Obviously, the
population of Nigeria relative to the other Africa countries. The large
population of Nigeria implies a large market for goods and services as well as
large pool of human resources for development. However, the impact of
population on development depends not only on the absolute size but also on its
quality. The major function responsible for the rapid increase in the
population of the country is the relatively high fertility level as portrayed
by a total fertility rate of about 6.0 life - birth per woman in the 1990‟s
Having seen from theoretical and empirical view that
the population growth is an impediment to the economic growth and development
especially under developing countries. It is then important to answer this
question, how detrimental is population growth to the economic growth? To
answer these we look into the interactions between population growth and any of
the economic variable such as , population growth, unemployment, savings
,interest, and inflation etc. So in this research work, our demonstration of
the impact of population on economic growth will be based on the study of the
relationship between population growth, interest,
unemployment and inflation. Now the question to answer becomes how those
population growth influences unemployment? Since we are working on the impact
of population growth on Nigeria, as whose population according the 2006 census
was estimated to be at a growth rate of 3%, our limitation of this study would
be on the Nigeria GDP (Gross Domestic Product) or GNI (GROSS NATIONAL PRODUCT)
versus the population growth rate of Nigeria.
Nevertheless, economic
growth is the GDP OR GNI divided by the total population of the whole country.
This measures the level of output in the economy. This equation implies that if
population is rapidly growing, the economic growth will reduce marginally and
people income will also decrease. So according to the finding, GDP can be
improved that is GDP per capital by checking the population growth rate through
birth control, death rate, migration and some other economic variables and
demographic variables.
Fundamentally, growth
is an indispensible requisite for the development that is why had continue Nigeria’s
to dominate the main thrust of government paramount objective more importantly,
growth is associated with policies of control population growth because a high
population lead to a vicious depletion of a nation’s financial and material r
population growth rate of Nigeria is at an average of 2.83% from 1993to 1997 as
compared to developed country like United States whose population rate is 1.00%
on the average. This rapid population growth has efficiently induce wide spread
poverty. According to Chege (1992).
Nigeria became worst than the early post-colonial
period. the agricultural sector declined in productivity by 1.3% while
population grew by 3.1% thus creating severe food shortage, a fall in capital
income, a fall in savings and living standard . Because of this type of
situation economic growth been severely retarded and dwarfed
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