POPULATION AND SOCIo-ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT IN GHANA: SOClo-ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT OR POPULATION MANAGEMENT?

Abstract

This paper is a contribution to the debate on the link between population and development with specific reference to Ghana. Classical, Marxist and Modernist economic theories acknowledge the link between population and development. While classical theory is pessimistic about the impact of population pressure on national prosperity, the Marxist and some Modernist theories such as the 'Lewis model' are optimistic that population pressure could result in output expansion. What ever the view, Ghana's development policy generally integrates population management into development programming. But evidence suggests that the grounds of rural localities may not be fertile enough for the success of such programmes. Extreme poverty, low literacy and low levels of modernity and enlightenment could make investment in population management fruitless. If the argument that a basic level of socioeconomic development is necessary for successful population management holds. then there is the need for an in-depth evaluation of the costs and benefits of population management programmes in rural localities. There is the need to rethink whether to focus national policy on direct development indicators in some localities. These are the outcomes of a review of secondary information supplemented with evidence from a focus group discussion with women from a typical rural community in Northern Ghana.