Population Is A Boon Essay

This point is substantiated both by the significant number of out-of-school youths who belong to households that cannot support them, and the insufficiency of public schools, classrooms, and other facilities needed to provide good-quality education to all the country’s school-aged children.

This point is substantiated both by the significant number of out-of-school youths who belong to households that cannot support them, and the insufficiency of public schools, classrooms, and other facilities needed to provide good-quality education to all the country’s school-aged children.The problem of poverty has been cited by many international institutions, including the ADB and the World Bank, as one of the biggest challenges that the Philippines has to overcome.

The poverty rate in the Philippines in 2009 was much higher than Indonesia’s 13 percent, Thailand’s 8.1 percent, and Malaysia’s 3.8 percent.

Pernia opines that the projection that the Philippines will have outperformed all its Southeast Asian neighbors by 2050 was highly unrealistic given the country’s rising poverty.

Meantime, there are also economists who agreed with the HSBC’s claim that a growing population will help the country’s efforts toward progress.

Bernardo De Vera, economics professor from the University of Asia and the Pacific (UA&P), an Opus Dei institution, which opposes the RH bill, says that before one harps on the significance of quality over quantity of population, the point that a sufficient number of population is needed to run an economy should first be established.

De Vera opines that the problem of poverty, although a heavy burden, is easier to solve than the problem of not having enough people.

He says controlling population growth poses the serious threat of population aging and dwindling number of human resources, which many advanced economies now face.

Ramos says the study commissioned by the ADB should serve as a wake-up call for the Philippine government and the private sector to address pressing problems that continue preventing the country from catching up with its neighbors.

War against poverty Ramos says the country, first and foremost, has to address the problem of poverty—adding that population management is a prudent way to do it—if it is to become one of the most progressive economies.

The study—titled “The World in 2050” and authored by Karen Ward, Nick Robins, and Zoe Knight of HSBC—has refueled the debate over whether the country’s growing population is really an advantage or a drag on the Philippines’ quest to becoming a developed economy over the long run.

The release of the study came amid ongoing talks on the Reproductive Health (RH) bill, which is both being strongly pushed by supporters and ardently blocked by critics. Pernia, an economics professor from the University of the Philippines and a former economist from the Asian Development Bank, says a growing population serves as an advantage for an economy only if it meets the quality of labor required by businesses.