Contemporary African Population Growth Negative Impact On Economic Development (1960 - Present)

The production of material and that of human beings serve as the two primary means of production in the development of history. So the relationship between them will bring great and direct impact on the economic development and the progress of human and society as a whole. In this case, the study of the relations between the population and economic development has been playing an important role in the field of history. This paper focuses on Africa, the fastest growing population countries, to discuss the negative effect of the increasing population on the economic development since independence. The writer makes full use of the theories of history, demographics, economics, population economics, and development economics, to elaborate the impact of the swift growth of population on the economy in Africa macroscopically, and on the individual families, and personal economic activities microcosmically, so as to reveal the historical course of confinement of economic development by the growing population in Africa.This paper is divided into three parts. PartⅠmainly discusses the characteristics of the growth and the structure of population in Africa since independence. PartⅡanalyzes the impact of the increasing population on the economic development from the perspective of capital accumulation, quality of population and employment. PartⅢdiscusses the backward African economy under the condition of growing population from the aspect of food shortage, lower living standard, heavy burden of foreign debt and worsening foreign trade condition. Finally, this paper points out that African countries has acquired further insight of controlling the population growth, and adopted corresponding measures, furthermore, there are some preliminary achievements in African countries.