Does rapid population growth diminish countries' economic development prospects? Do policies aimed at reducing high fertility help families escape poverty? In this carefully constructed collection of recent studies and analyses, the authors offer a nuanced, yet clear and positive answer to these questions.

I. SETTING THE STAGE ; 1. How and Why Population Matters: New Findings, New Issues ; 2. The Population Debate in Historical Perspective: Revisionism Revised ; 3. Dependency Burdens in the Developing World ; II. POPULATION CHANGE AND THE ECONOMY ; 4. Economic and Demographic Change: A Synthesis of Models, Findings, and Perspectives ; 5. Demographic Change, Economic Growth and Inequality ; 6. Saving, Wealth, and Population ; 7. Cumulative Causality, Economic Growth and the Demographic Transition ; III. FERTILITY, POVERTY AND THE FAMILY ; 8. Population and Poverty in Households: A Review of Reviews ; 9. Demographic Transition and Poverty: Effects Via Economic Growth, Distribution, and Conversion ; 10. Inequality and the Family in Latin America ; 11. Demographic Changes and Poverty in Brazil ; IV. POPULATION, AGRICULTURE AND NATURAL RESOURCES ; 12. Rural Population Growth, Agricultural Change and Natural Resource Management in Developing Countries: A Review of Hypotheses and Some Evidence from Honduras ; V. SOME ECONOMICS OF POPULATION POLICY ; 13. Why Micro Matters ; 14. New Findings in Economics and Demography: Implications for Policies to Reduce Poverty

`Review from previous edition Economists notoriously disagree about the economic impact of rapid population growth in poor countries. Here's a new round of serious analysis with a healthy focus not only on the old question of how population change affects growth, but on the more fundamental question -- of how population change affects people's welfare.' Lawrence Summers, former US Treasury Secretary and President, Harvard University `Many university courses or textbooks on economic development have very little to say about the role of population. They discuss the progress of growth in per capita income, but have very much more to say about the income than the capita. At the same time, for those who have taken an interest, population issues have been highly controversial, with little in the way of conclusive results. Population Matters puts things right. It comes to new and clear conclusions, and establishes what its title implies: those interested in economic development ignore population at the peril of missing a key factor. More than that, it gives researchers, teachers, and practitioners a place to go. The book will for a long time be a point of reference, providing a rich and subtle discussion of a broad range of critical questions; it reflects the state of the art in the subject matter it covers.' Professor Robert Cassen, London School of Economics `At the start of the new millennium, nearly five billion people live in the less developed regions of the globe -- in countries where material poverty is still pervasive. If birth rates in these regions had remained as they were fifty years ago, that number would be higher by some two billion. This is the enormous demographic effect of the fertility transition that has taken place. Anyone who wants to understand the impact of that transition on economic growth and poverty should read this book.' Paul Demeny, The Population Council `Provides a very valuable discussion, with detailed references, of the knotty methodological issues inherent in the demography-development debate. . . . Anyone concerned with how population change affects the development prospects of poor countries will profit from reading these essays.' Jeffrey D. Sachs, Director, The Earth Institute, Columbia University `This book is one of the most important contributions in the past few years to the debate about the macro consequences of population change.' Journal of Peace Research

An outstanding literature review and meta-analysis of recent cross-national data Presents original research on the contribution of high fertility to poverty and the role of fertility reduction in poverty alleviation efforts

Nancy Birdsall is President of the Center for Global Development and Senior Associate at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, where she directs the economic reform project. She was the Executive Vice President of the Inter-American Development Bank from 1993 until September 1998. She is the author of numerous publications on economic development issues. Her most recent work is on the causes and effects of inequality in a globalizing world. Allen C. Kelley is James B. Duke Professor of Economics, Duke University. Steven W. Sinding is Director-General of the International Planned Parenthood Federation, headquartered in London. He directs a global federation of 147 affiliates operating programmes in 180 countries, and six regional offices around the world. Prior to joing IPPF, Dr Sinding was Professor of Population and Family Health at the Mailman School of Public Health, Columbia University, and Adjunct Professor of Public Policy in Columbia's School for International and Public Affairs.

An outstanding literature review and meta-analysis of recent cross-national data Presents original research on the contribution of high fertility to poverty and the role of fertility reduction in poverty alleviation efforts