Population and Poverty: A Review of the Links, Evidence and Implications for the Philippines

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Philippine Journal of Development Number 56, Second Semester 2003, Volume XXX, No.2

Popul tion and Poverty: A Review of the Links, Evidence and Implications for th Philippines* ANICETOC. ORBETAJR.**

Introduc

on

The relati nship between demographic changes and poverty is an old issue that has gained currency because of the recent focus of governments, m ltilateral agencies, and other development organizations on poverty al eviation. For the Philippines, all of the post-Martial Law governments have made poverty alleviation their centerpiece program. Analysts h ve been trying to understand why, in spite of this consistent focus, gai s in poverty alleviation in the country have been modest. The most accepted explanation, being the most obvious perhaps, is the uneve economic growth performance. However, it is wellknown, although eavily debated upon, that demographic factors play an important r e not only in poverty alleviation but even in economic growth as well. P oviding a systematic clarification of this role is the objective of this pa er. Such clarification may well inform discussion on the role demogra hic changes play on poverty alleviation efforts in the country. The ~ aper is organized as follows. The next two sections provide a status r port on the demographic as well as the poverty front. To provide a ackground on the interaction between population and de.Prepared for ber 2002. The This paper ha Congress, E. sole responsi !he author i Ph.D. in Econ include demo gies.

he 2002 Population National Congress, INNOTECH Building, Diliman, a.c., 29 Novemvery able assistance of Fatima del Prado and Shine Cagas is gratefully acknowledged. benefited from the comments of the Steering Committee of the 2009 National Population obel de Ayala, M. de Nicolas, and R. Tungpalan. All errors and opinions, however, are the lity of the author and not of the institution he is affiliated with. a Senior Research Fellow at the Philippine Institute for Development Studies. He holds a mics from the University of the Philipines School of Economics. His areas of expertise raphic economics, social sector, applied economics modeling, and information technolo-


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Population and Poverty: A Review of the Links, Evidence and Implications for the Philippines by Ronald Yacat - Issuu