Future population growth patterns, even if contemplated in the relatively short time perspective terminating at the end of the 1980's and only on the level of such massive geographic aggregates as the economically more developed and the less developed...
Future population growth patterns, even if contemplated in the relatively short time perspective terminating at the end of the 1980's and only on the level of such massive geographic aggregates as the economically more developed and the less developed countries (to be referred to here, for the sake of brevity, as "South"), are uncertain. The cause of uncertainty, in part, is lack of precision in the estimates of the current levels and recent trends on which demographic projections must be built. More significantly, it is impossible to predict the more important component of future demographic change―fertility―with accuracy and assurance. An outline of the most salient population growth patterns that are likely to affect trends in the growth of the labor force, migration, and international trade in the 1980's may then be best attempted by focusing on the relatively fixed features of the demographic terrain that lies ahead.