## Population Pressures

_IMF Blog, February 25, 2016_

## Source details

**Canonical URL:** [Population Pressures](https://www.imf.org/en/blogs/articles/2016/02/25/population-pressures)

## Other formats

- [Markdown version](/en/blogs/articles/2016/02/25/population-pressures/index.md)
- [Structured JSON version](/en/blogs/articles/2016/02/25/population-pressures/index.json)
- [Bundle manifest](/en/blogs/articles/2016/02/25/population-pressures/bundle-manifest.json)

## Bibliographic details
- Authors: Jeff Hayden
- Published: February 25, 2016

---

### Overview
- Title: Population Pressures
- Author: Jeff Hayden
- Date: February 25, 2016
- Note: (Versions in عربي and Español)
- Central premise: Multiple forces—aging, migration, urbanization, and longevity—are creating a more diverse and complex global demographic landscape; population growth alone does not capture the full story.

### Key demographic forces and themes
- Common perceptions: “population growth” often evokes concerns about resources under stress, linked to Thomas Malthus and Paul Ehrlich’s The Population Bomb (1968).
- Broader dynamics highlighted:
  - Aging
  - Migration
  - Urbanization
  - Longevity
- Contrasting outcomes emphasized:
  - Some countries face a problem of too few people, not too many.
  - Some countries are positioned to realize a “demographic dividend” based on an expected boom in working-age adults.
  - Gains possible if countries can boost female participation in the workforce.
- Quotation on scale: David E. Bloom proposes options for managing what he calls “the most significant demographic transformation in human history.”

### Feature articles and focal analyses in this F&D issue
- Lead piece: David E. Bloom (Harvard) - survey of forces shaping population growth today and policy options.
- Other feature topics:
  - Fiscal consequences of shrinking and aging populations.
  - The role of women in offsetting problems of an aging population and shrinking workforce.
  - Linkages between age and inflation.
  - How sub-Saharan Africa can reap the benefits of its growing population.

### Additional articles in the issue
- IMF First Deputy Managing Director David Lipton on China’s need for bold fiscal reforms.
- IMF economists Paul Cashin and Mehdi Raissi on the economics of El Niño.
- IMF Middle East Chief Masood Ahmed on plunging oil prices.
- Rabah Arezki, Frederick van der Ploeg, and Frederik Toscani on the latest trend in natural resource finds.
- Duvvuri Subbarao (former Reserve Bank of India governor) reflects on central bank communications in a first-person account.
- Peter J. Walker profiles economist David Card, focusing on minimum wages, immigration, and education.

### Cultural note
- Tribute included to pop icon David Bowie, who passed away in January; F&D Managing Editor Marina Primorac recounts how Bowie’s face came to grace the front of the “Brixton pound,” a local currency circulating in the south London neighborhood where Bowie was born.

*Source: Population Pressures — Jeff Hayden, February 25, 2016*

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## References

- [عربي](http://blog-montada.imf.org/?p=4093)
- [issue of F&D](http://www.imf.org/external/pubs/ft/fandd/2016/03/index.htm)
- [survey of the forces shaping population growth today](http://www.imf.org/external/pubs/ft/fandd/2016/03/bloom.htm)
- [fiscal consequences](http://www.imf.org/external/pubs/ft/fandd/2016/03/clements.htm)
- [role of women](http://www.imf.org/external/pubs/ft/fandd/2016/03/kinoshita.htm)
- [age and inflation](http://www.imf.org/external/pubs/ft/fandd/2016/03/juselius.htm)
- [sub-Saharan Africa can reap the benefits of its growing population](http://www.imf.org/external/pubs/ft/fandd/2016/03/thakoor.htm)
- [China’s need for bold fiscal reforms](http://www.imf.org/external/pubs/ft/fandd/2016/03/straight.htm)
- [economics of El Niño](http://www.imf.org/external/pubs/ft/fandd/2016/03/cashin.htm)
- [plunging oil prices](http://www.imf.org/external/pubs/ft/fandd/2016/03/ahmed.htm)
- [natural resource finds](http://www.imf.org/external/pubs/ft/fandd/2016/03/arezki.htm)
- [reflects on the power of words](http://www.imf.org/external/pubs/ft/fandd/2016/03/subbarao.htm)
- [profiles economist David Card](http://www.imf.org/external/pubs/ft/fandd/2016/03/people.htm)
- [tribute to pop icon David Bowie](http://www.imf.org/external/pubs/ft/fandd/2016/03/currency.htm)

_Source: https://www.imf.org/en/blogs/articles/2016/02/25/population-pressures_