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Some Effects of Population Growth on Latin America's Economy

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 January 2018

Alfonso Gonzalez
Alfonso Gonzalez*
Affiliation:
Department of Geography, University of South Florida, Tampa, Florida
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Extract

The stability of Latin America rests essentially on the solution of two interrelated problems—population growth and economic development. A further corollary, and an extremely significant one, will be the social distribution of the benefits accruing from economic betterment. Latin America is both the fastest growing world region in population and also the most advanced (in terms of the death rate, literacy, and per capita income) of the underdeveloped regions of the world. It is also the only region of the underdeveloped world that had evolved from political colonial status prior to World War II. This region, therefore, has had the longest history of endeavoring to solve directly many of the problems that plague the 70 per cent of mankind that lives in the underdeveloped countries.

Type
Research Article
Information
Journal of Inter-American Studies , Volume 9 , Issue 1 , January 1967 , pp. 22 - 42
Copyright
Copyright © University of Miami 1967

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References

1 The discussion on population in this paper is based on the assumption that there will be no nuclear war, general political disintegration, or spectacular fertility control technique.

2 Population Reference Bureau, Population Bulletin, Vol. XXI, No. 4, October 1965.Google Scholar

3 Economic Bulletin for Latin America, United Nations, Vol. VIII, No. 1 (October 1962). Statistical Bulletin.

Demographic Yearbook: 1963, United Nations, Table 19.

4 Based on the average of 16 countries for both periods from the Demographic Yearbook: 1963, Table 22.

5 Taeuber, Irene B., “Population Growth in Latin America: Paradox of Development,” Population Bulletin, Vol. XVIII, No. 6 (October 1962).Google Scholar

6 Major agricultural countries are here defined as those having more than 5 million hectares of arable land according to the Production Yearbook: 1963, Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, Table 1. The countries of sub-Saharan Africa (except South Africa) are excluded because of the incompleteness of data regarding cultivated land.

7 Cultivated area is based on summation of area cultivated for all crops given in the FAO Production Yearbook: 1963. Some significant crops are excluded from the totals (because areas are not given), viz., the deciduous mid-latitude fruits, citrus, the palms, and some tropical fruits. The population estimates are also those provided by the same FAO source (Table 3).

8 The 1965 World Agricultural Situation, Foreign Agriculture Economic Report No. 22, U. S. Department of Agriculture.

The 1965 Western Hemisphere Agricultural Situation.

9 The overall figure of 2.6 per cent annual increment for Latin America is undoubtedly too low because 1964 was a poor crop year (especially in South America) so that if either 1963 or the preliminary figures for 1965 (The World Agricultural Situation: Review of 1965 and Outlook for 1966, Table 1) is used instead of 1964 then the overall rate of agricultural production increased from 1952-54 to the 1960's by about 3.1 per cent annually.

10 Foreign Agriculture, Foreign Agricultural Service, U. S. Dept. of Agriculture, III, No. 50 (December 13, 1965), 4.

11 However, if either 1963 or the preliminary 1965 production figures are used, per capita output would have been 3 per cent greater than in the early 1950s (an insignificant increase).

12 Economic Survey of Latin America: 1963, Chapter III.

13 “Latin America at Mid-Decade,” Latin American Business Highlights. XV, No. 3 (Third Quarter, 1965), 8-9.

14 The 1965 Western Hemisphere Agricultural Situation, pp. 3, 57. A daily caloric consumption of only 2400 calories would appear insufficient in view of the 3000 calories or more consumed in Anglo-America, Western Europe, European Oceania, and even in Argentina and Uruguay

15 The Economic Development of Latin America in the Post-War Period, Table 23.

16 Economic Survey of Latin America: 1963, Table 17.

17 Yearbook of National Accounts Statistics: 1964, Part D, Table 4B.

18 Alliance for Progress Weekly Newsletter, Pan American Union, January 31, 1966. The five Latin American nations not included in the study were Mexico, Cuba, the Dominican Republic, El Salvador, and Uruguay.

19 Economic Survey of Latin America: 1963, Chapter VII.

Alliance for Progress Weekly Newsletter, November 15 and December 6, 1965.

20 Alliance for Progress Weekly Newsletter, August 16, 1965 and January 24, 1966.

21 Carroll, Thomas F., “The Land Reform Issue in Latin America,” Latin American Issues: Essays and Comments, edited by Hirschman, Albert O. (New York: 20th Century Fund, 1961).Google Scholar

22 Pizer, Samuel and Cutler, Frederick, “Foreign Investments 1964-65,” Survey of Current Business, U. S. Dept. oí Commerce, XLV, No. 9 (September 1965).Google Scholar