TY - JOUR
T1 - Education rather than age structure brings demographic dividend
AU - Lutz, Wolfgang
AU - Cuaresma, Jesus Crespo
AU - Kebede, Endale
AU - Prskawetz, Alexia
AU - Sanderson, Warren C.
AU - Striessnig, Erich
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2019 National Academy of Sciences. All rights reserved.
PY - 2019/6/25
Y1 - 2019/6/25
N2 - The relationship between population changes and economic growth has been debated since Malthus. Initially focusing on population growth, the notion of demographic dividend has shifted the attention to changes in age structures with an assumed window of opportunity that opens when falling birth rates lead to a relatively higher proportion of the working-age population. This has become the dominant paradigm in the field of population and development, and an advocacy tool for highlighting the benefits of family planning and fertility decline. While this view acknowledges that the dividend can only be realized if associated with investments in human capital, its causal trigger is still seen in exogenous fertility decline. In contrast, unified growth theory has established human capital as a trigger of both demographic transition and economic growth. We assess the relative importance of changing age structure and increasing human capital for economic growth for a panel of 165 countries during the time period of 1980–2015. The results show a clear dominance of improving education over age structure and give evidence that the demographic dividend is driven by human capital. Declining youth dependency ratios even show negative impacts on income growth when combined with low education. Based on a multidimensional understanding of demography that considers education in addition to age, and with a view to the additional effects of education on health and general resilience, we conclude that the true demographic dividend is a human capital dividend. Global population policies should thus focus on strengthening the human resource base for sustainable development.
AB - The relationship between population changes and economic growth has been debated since Malthus. Initially focusing on population growth, the notion of demographic dividend has shifted the attention to changes in age structures with an assumed window of opportunity that opens when falling birth rates lead to a relatively higher proportion of the working-age population. This has become the dominant paradigm in the field of population and development, and an advocacy tool for highlighting the benefits of family planning and fertility decline. While this view acknowledges that the dividend can only be realized if associated with investments in human capital, its causal trigger is still seen in exogenous fertility decline. In contrast, unified growth theory has established human capital as a trigger of both demographic transition and economic growth. We assess the relative importance of changing age structure and increasing human capital for economic growth for a panel of 165 countries during the time period of 1980–2015. The results show a clear dominance of improving education over age structure and give evidence that the demographic dividend is driven by human capital. Declining youth dependency ratios even show negative impacts on income growth when combined with low education. Based on a multidimensional understanding of demography that considers education in addition to age, and with a view to the additional effects of education on health and general resilience, we conclude that the true demographic dividend is a human capital dividend. Global population policies should thus focus on strengthening the human resource base for sustainable development.
KW - Age structure
KW - Demography
KW - Economic growth
KW - Education
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85068160123&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1073/pnas.1820362116
DO - 10.1073/pnas.1820362116
M3 - Article
C2 - 31182606
AN - SCOPUS:85068160123
VL - 116
SP - 12798
EP - 12803
JO - Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America (PNAS)
JF - Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America (PNAS)
SN - 0027-8424
IS - 26
ER -