As KHorton has alluded to, there is a well-established body of literature which indicates that development leads lower Total Fertility Rates. Examples include the books Common Wealth by Jeffrey Sachs and Factfulness by Hans Rosling et al. The following online resources also explore this:
Thanks for the links. However, it seems that the connection isn’t that strong, e.g. from the last article:
“we should not be confident that reducing mortality will always reduce population growth . Methods other than reducing mortality seem more effective in reducing population growth.”
and
“the most effective means to achieve decreases in fertility and population growth in Sub-Saharan Africa would be to invest in family planning services and female education.”
But except for Sub-Saharan Africa it seems to be working well so I feel kinda convinced :)
As you’ve said, I wouldn’t say “the best way to reduce population growth is providing malaria nets”. But I would say “I don’t think malaria nets will cause a major increase in population in the long term”.
As KHorton has alluded to, there is a well-established body of literature which indicates that development leads lower Total Fertility Rates. Examples include the books Common Wealth by Jeffrey Sachs and Factfulness by Hans Rosling et al. The following online resources also explore this:
This article indicates that meeting the UN’s SDGs would lead to lower population growth https://www.pnas.org/content/early/2016/11/28/1611386113
David Roodman has explored this point at GiveWell’s encouragement: https://davidroodman.com/blog/2014/04/16/the-mortality-fertility-link/
Giving What We Can has also written about it: https://www.givingwhatwecan.org/post/2015/09/development-population-growth-and-mortality-fertility-link/
Thanks for the links. However, it seems that the connection isn’t that strong, e.g. from the last article:
“we should not be confident that reducing mortality will always reduce population growth . Methods other than reducing mortality seem more effective in reducing population growth.”
and
“the most effective means to achieve decreases in fertility and population growth in Sub-Saharan Africa would be to invest in family planning services and female education.”
But except for Sub-Saharan Africa it seems to be working well so I feel kinda convinced :)
As you’ve said, I wouldn’t say “the best way to reduce population growth is providing malaria nets”. But I would say “I don’t think malaria nets will cause a major increase in population in the long term”.