Population Density, Fertility, and Demographic Convergence in Developing Countries

Whether the population tends towards a long-run stationary value depends on forces of demographic convergence. One such force is the result of fertility rates being negatively affected by population density. We test the existence of such an effect in 44 developing countries, matching georeferenced data from the Demographic and Health Surveys for half a million women with population density grids. We find a causal relationship from population density to fertility such that a rise in density from 10 to 1,000 inhabitants per square kilometer corresponds to a decrease in fertility of about 0.7 children. The corresponding half-life for population dynamics is of the order of four-five generations.

• metadata
• relations

Document type	Article de périodique (Journal article) – Article de recherche
Access type	Accès restreint
Publication date	2017
Language	Anglais
Journal information	"Journal of Development Economics" - Vol. 127, p. 13-24 (July 2017)
Peer reviewed	yes
Publisher	Elsevier BV * North-Holland ((Netherlands) Amsterdam)
issn	0304-3878
e-issn	1872-6089
Publication status	Publié
Affiliations	UCL - SSH/LIDAM/IRES - Institut de recherches économiques et sociales UCL - SSH/LIDAM/CORE - Center for operations research and econometrics
Keywords	Demographic and Health Survey ; Fertility ; Preventive check ; Agglomeration externalities ; Population Dynamics
Links	http://perso.uclouvain.be/david.delacroix/pdf/jde17.pdf http://hdl.handle.net/2078.1/182416[Handle]

See also
	[boreal:170358]	Population Density, Fertility and Demographic Convergence in Developing Countries