Question

How does illiteracy help to increase population growth rate? justify

Answer 1

Population growth is caused by the birth rate being higher than the death rate. The birth rate has been going down for quite a while, but the death rate has gone down even faster. People used to have up to 20 babies. most of which died at birth or in early childhood. People would die young from infections that are now easily cured. Poor sanitation and contaminated drinking water killed millions, as did pandemics. We now keep elderly people alive for a lot longer through medical interventions.

So most people now survive to be old enough to reproduce, but we have not chosen to use contraception to the point that the equilibrium of population is maintained. Hence, there has been massive growth since the mid-19th century.

But there is no question that if people are well-educated, they tend to limit the size of their families. Poor, uneducated people have more children on average.

It’s hard to separate literacy from income level, because illiteracy almost always goes hand-in-hand with poverty. So hard to say which factor, or both, is in play with having slower population growth. But it seems clear that in particular, education and empowerment of women is a key factor for people taking charge of their reproduction.

Whether a global programme of 100% literacy without addressing any other factors would do much to slow population growth is doubtful. It’s certainly not THE cause, but is a strong correlate.

Answer 2

Population growth is caused by the birth rate being higher than the death rate. The birth rate has been going down for quite a while, but the death rate has gone down even faster. People used to have up to 20 babies. most of which died at birth or in early childhood. People would die young from infections that are now easily cured. Poor sanitation and contaminated drinking water killed millions, as did pandemics. We now keep elderly people alive for a lot longer through medical interventions.
So most people now survive to be old enough to reproduce, but we have not chosen to use contraception to the point that the equilibrium of population is maintained. Hence, there has been massive growth since the mid-19th century.
But there is no question that if people are well-educated, they tend to limit the size of their families. Poor, uneducated people have more children on average.
It’s hard to separate literacy from income level, because illiteracy almost always goes hand-in-hand with poverty. So hard to say which factor, or both, is in play with having slower population growth. But it seems clear that in particular, education and empowerment of women is a key factor for people taking charge of their reproduction.
Whether a global programme of 100% literacy without addressing any other factors would do much to slow population growth is doubtful. It’s certainly not THE cause, but is a strong correlate.