Population: Does It Matter? Revisiting an Old Issue

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For many years, the Philippines has neglected the issue of population growth, consequently finding itself now virtually alone among middle-income developing countries as not having made any significant demographic transition. Because of this, the Policy Notes implies that the country has remained in a low-level equilibrium trap which involves a chain of low economic growth, high unemployment, low productivity, persistent poverty, declining human capital and high fertility feeding back into low economic growth and so on and so forth. To break this vicious chain, a clear and consistent population policy, matched by an adequately funded action program, is said to be needed.