Tag: population studies

Disadvantages of a high dependence ratio

Disadvantages of a high dependence ratio include:

  • Leads to low savings and low investment.
  • Leads to low productivity in the economy.
  • Leads to heavy burden on government to provide essential services.
  • Leads to underutilisation of resources.
  • Leads to low tax revenue.

POSITIVE IMPLICATIONS OF AN INCREASING POPULATION

The positive implications of an increasing population are:

  • Increased labour supply. As population increases, labour supply also increases as more and more people become available for employment at the existing wage




  • Wider market. As population increases, the number of consumers in an economy also increases. An increasing population therefore, provides a large and ready domestic market for goods produced both locally and imported.
  • Increases the rate of natural resource utilisation. Resources, especially land, that were previously under and unutilised (idle) are brought to use by the existing circulation.
  • Increased labour mobility. An increasing population prompts increased mobility of labour because of pressure on the existing resources in areas where population is increasing. Workers migrate from areas where there are shortages of factor inputs and wages are low to areas where co-operant factors are readily available and wages high.
  • Declining social per capita. The average cost of providing social infrastructures like roads, education and health per person falls as population size rises.
  • Increased innovations. The population becomes more innovative and inventive as they look for ways of increasing output using the limited available resources.
  • Strong national defence. An increasing population makes it possible for a sizeable proportion of the population to specialize in production and some labourers are committed to fulltime national defence.




  • Government is prompted by the increasing population to adopt appropriate policies such as land reforms, manpower planning and family planning to solve the problem

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NEGATIVE ECONOMIC IMPLICATIONS OF A HIGH POPULATION GROWTH RATE

  • Leads to unemployment and underemployment. This is due to the excess labour supply arising from the high population growth rate.




  • Leads to high rates of rural-urban migration and its negative effects like prostitution, high crime rates and congestion. This is due to the poor working conditions in the rural areas.
  • Leads to high rates of rural-urban migration and its negative effects like prostitution, high crime rates and congestion. This is due to the poor working conditions in the rural areas.
  • Leads to high social costs in form of pollution, accidents, congestion and sanitary problems. This is due to the increase in the large number of people in the different areas. .
  • Causes income inequality. This is due to the increase in poverty levels especially in rural areas.
  • Leads to high government expenditure on provision of social services. This b due to the increasing demand for social facilities by the dependant population.




  • Leads to high dependence burden. This is due to the large number of your, g people that depend on the working population.
  • Worsens the balance of payments problems. This is due to the high level of importation to meet the demands of the population.
  • Leads to quick depletion of resources due to overexploitation of the available resources to meet the rising demand of the population. It makes effective government planning for the population difficult. This is due to the high birth rates.
  • It increases external resource dependence. This is due to increased reliance on foreign aid, foreign manpower and foreign technology to meet the nee: of the high population increase.
  • Leads to limited domestic market. This is due to the high level of poverty especially in the rural areas.
  • It increases brain drain. This is due to the high levels of unemployment that forces highly skilled labour to look for better opportunities in other countries.
  • It leads to low labour productivity. This is due to increase in the number of unskilled and semi-skilled labourforce.
  • It over strains the available infrastructure like schools and hospitals. This because the increasing population demands for social services like education and health.




  • Leads to low income per capita resulting in poor standards of living.
  • Leads to low capital accumulation due to low savings.
  • Leads to low investment due to the high level of consumption that limits funds set aside for accumulating savings.
  • Leads to political unrest and social tension.
  • It may lead to inflation due to high demand for goods and services.

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POSITIVE ECONOMIC IMPLICATIONS OF A HIGH POPULATION GROWTH RATE

  • High market potential. This is due to increase in effective demand by the growing population.
  •  High tax potential. This is due to increased investment, labourforce and consumer demand that provide more tax revenue to the government.




  • High potential for labourforce. This is because of the increase in labour supply associated with the growing population.
  • High potential for increased resource utilization. This is due to the high level of investment required to meet the increasing consumer demand hence increased use of idle resources.
  • It is an incentive or potential for massive future investment. This is due to the increased consumer demand.
  • Government is awakened to the responsibilities of providing the necessary infrastructure. This leads to increase in the level of output.
  • The young population is usually innovative and creative. This is due to increase in the level of competition that results into more discoveries.
  • It reduces per capita social overhead costs. This is because the infrastructure in form of schools, hospitals and roads is maximumly used.




  • Initiates efforts to work harder to sustain the predominantly young population. This is because the working population strives to meet the demands of the dependants.
  • High mobility of labour due to increased population pressure

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POSITIVE ECONOMIC IMPLICATIONS OF THE POPULATION STRUCTURE

  • High market potential due to the high population growth rate. The steady growing population provides a large market potential.




  • High potential for labourforce due to the high population growth rate. For example there is a possibility for the provision of cheap labour because many people are unskilled and semi-skilled.
  • The high population growth rate provides a high potential for increased resource utilization leading to high economic growth rates.
  • The dominant young population encourages effort to work hard so as to sustain the dependants.




  • High potential for government tax revenue. This is due to the high population growth rate that provides labourforce to be taxed by the government.
  • Acts as an incentive or potential for massive future investment because of the dominant young age brackets.
  • The predominant young age group is usually innovative and creative. This g room for new discoveries leading to technological progress.
  • The high population growth rate awakens the government to its responsibility: providing the necessary infrastructure which leads to increase in output.
  • The high population growth rate reduces per capita social overhead costs for example reduction in the cost of providing infrastructure.




  • Encourages labour mobility. The high population growth rate forces the skills: and unskilled labour to search for better opportunities either within the country: outside the country in order to earn a living.

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Importance of population census

  • Determines the population growth rate.
  • Determines the employment levels in the country.
  • Determines the levels of education in the country.
  • Determines the size of the country’s potential labourforce.
  • Determines the size of the population in relation to the available resources.




  • Determines the age structure of the population in order to know the dependency ratio.
  • Determines the population distribution in terms of rural and urban areas.
  • Determines the rate of migration, that is, the number of emigrants an: immigrants

12 MEASURES TAKEN TO SOLVE POPULATION PROBLEMS IN ZIMBABWE

  • Importation of food to supplement on food produced locally.
  • Modernization of the agricultural sector to increase food supply through mechanization, irrigation and use of improved seeds.




  • Improvement of medical services to reduce spread of diseases and epidemics.
  • Construction of skyscrapers to solve problems of land shortage in urban areas.
  • Caring out industrialization order to absorb the labor and reduce the rates of unemployment
  • Caring out rural transformation programs to reduce rural-urban migration with its associated evils.
  • Diversification of the economy to include mining and industrialization and spread labor to reduce unemployment levels.
  • Encouraging family planning to reduce rapid population growth.
  • Exportation of labor to other countries to reduce domestic unemployment
  • Reclamation of land to increase food production.




  • Promotion of international trade by encouraging production for exports and getting more foreign exchange to cater for the large population.

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