Cambridge International as and a level Economics Ebook

Classification by population growth and 
population structure
Developing economies tend to have high rates of 
population growth. Th
is is due largely to natural increases 
in population size with the birth rate exceeding the death 
rate. Th
ere are a number of reasons why the birth rate 
tends to be high in developing economies. Th
ese include 
the need to have children to support parents in their old 
age, lack of availability of contraceptives, high infant 
mortality rates, the relatively low costs of raising children 
and a relatively low labour force participation.
Some economists suggest that the population 
theory of the Reverend Th
omas Malthus, published 
in 1798, can be applied to the current population 
problems of the developing economies. Th
e
 Malthusian 
theory
has a pessimistic view of population growth. 
GDP contribution by sector of origin, 2013 (% estimates)
Developed economies
Agriculture
Industry
Services
France
1.9
18.7
79.4
Germany
0.8
30.1
69.0
UK
0.7
20.5
78.9
USA
1.1
19.5
79.4
Emerging economies
Brazil
5.5
26.4
68.1
India
16.9
17.0
66.1
Russia
4.2
37.5
58.3
South Africa
2.6
29.0
68.4
Developing economies
Bangladesh
17.2
28.9
53.9
Central African Republic
56.6
14.5
28.9
Liberia
76.9
5.4
17.7
Sierra Leone
47.9
18.6
33.5
Table 9.5 
The economic structure of selected economies
Source
: 
The World Factbook
, CIA, GDP composition/sector of origin (
www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world.../
; 
www.cia.gov/
library/publications/the-world
=
factbook/geos/
)