Population Trends and Controls in strongUnderdevelopedstrong Countries.pdfVIP

POPULATION TRENDS AND CONTROLS IN UNDERDEVELOPED COUNTRIES* A. J.JAPFEt INTRODUCTION A. What Are Underdeveloped Areas? The term underdeveloped areas encompasses a great variety of socioeconomic- demographic situations. The countries of Africa, Asia, and Latin America, which are often referred to in the literature as the underdeveloped parts of the world, are all very different from each other in many respects, both economic and noneconomic. The noneconomic differences, comprising as they do language and observable social customs, are immediately recognizable to even the most casual of observers. The economic differences may be less noticeable, however, especially to the tourist who sees but the capital cities. Nevertheless, some idea of the great variation that exists can be obtained by noting that annual per capita national income in Puerto Rico is over $4oo. This is about double that of Mexico; which, in turn, may be about double that of Guatemala or Honduras; which, in turn, may be about double that of Bolivia. Thus, within Latin America-an underdeveloped area-the most prosperous (or least underdeveloped) country may be perhaps ten times as well off as the poorest. When compared with the United States, which has an annual per capita national income of over $2,ooo, however, even the most prosperous of the Latin American countries appears underdeveloped. Still, these countries of Africa, Asia, and Latin America all have in common the fact that their e