Sustainable development: why the focus on population?

Abstract

Sustainable development is a policy approach that has gained quite a lot of popularity in recent years, especially in international circles. By attaching a specific interpretation to sustainability, population control policies have become the overriding approach to development, thus becoming the primary tool used to “promote” economic development in developing countries and to protect the environment. These policies, however, have failed to achieve either goal. By analyzing the theoretical underpinning of such policies as well as the available scientific research, this paper aims at bringing some light to these results. The findings suggest that, while the focus on population is not necessarily incorrect, the policies implemented are mistaken since they hamper the growth of a key element of economic development: human capital, and thus render it unsustainable.