World Development Report 1984

Foreword
This Report is the seventh in this annual series that governments and their peoples have a wide
assessing development issues. This year the focus range of views on this subject.
is on population change and its links with develop- Even with success in efforts to slow population
ment. Population growth does not provide the growth, future population growth will still be
drama of financial crisis or political upheaval, but heavily concentrated in what are now the poorer
as this Report shows, its significance for shaping areas of the globe. Thus the average level of
the world of our children and grandchildren is at human welfare will depend largely on the degree
least as great. What governments and their peo- of economic and social transformation in those
ples do today to influence our demographic future areas. The poverty of those areas cannot be blamed
will set the terms for development strategy well on rapid population growth alone; the causes of
into the next century. Failure to act now to slow poverty go well beyond population change. Nor
growth is likely to mean a lower quality of life for will reducing population growth alone ensure their
millions of people. In the poorest countries of the economic transformation. But this Report shows
world, and among the poorest groups within that slowing the pace of population growth can
countries, poverty contributes to high mortality make a difference-and that the ingredients for
and even higher fertility. It thereby creates a doing so are also those that will increase economic
vicious circle: the slow pace at which development growth.
reaches the poor contributes to rapid population The analysis of the population situation follows
growth, making the elimination of poverty increas- our annual review of global economic developingly
difficult. Slowing population growth is a dif- ments, which as in previous years occupies the
ficult challenge to humanity-but a challenge that first part of the World Development Report. It might
must and can be successfully addressed. be argued that the general public remains insuffi-
On the one hand, the situation is grave: this ciently aware of the growing links among nations
Report concludes that in some countries develop- over the past few decades, and of the extent today
ment may not be possible at all unless slower pop- of international economic interdependence. In an
ulation growth can be achieved soon, before increasingly interdependent world, low growth,
higher real incomes would bring fertility down fiscal and labor market problems, and resulting
spontaneously. On the other hand, there is reason inflation in industrial countries have taken a heavy
for hope: the experience of the past decade shows toll in developing countries. Exports have sufthat
education, health, and other development fered, fear of protectionism has increased, and
measures that raise parents' hopes for their chil- high real interest rates have made debt servicing a
dren, along with widespread access to family plan- costly burden. If the industrial countries fail to
ning services, create a powerful combination in regain the growth rates they managed in the 1950s
reducing fertility. and 1960s, many countries in the developing
The discussion of population places special world will have great difficulty making progress in
emphasis on the role of public policy in an area the years ahead. Indeed, the prospects for much of
where fundamental human values are at stake. sub-Saharan Africa will be particularly grave.
Population is a subject that touches issues central But it is also apparent that even in a harsh interto
the human condition, including personal free- national climate, the developing nations can take
dom and the very definition of economic and social actions to improve their own economic perforprogress.
This Report tries to do it full justice, in a mance. Developing countries share the problems
sensitive and thought-provoking way, recognizing of the developed, from fiscal deficits to distorted
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