2.55% 2.20% 1.90%
Panama 2.60% 2.20% 2.00%
El Salvador 2.70% 2.20% 2.00%
Guatamala 2.80% 2.90% 3.50%
Nicaragua 3.10% 3.40% 2.90%
Honduras 3.20% 3.50% 3.00%
[The World Bank, 1989; U.S. Bureau of the Census, 1990] ===============================================================
Stabilized population levels are not projected for any of the Central American countries before the year 2020, when popu lation stability is projected for Panama (The World Bank,
1989). The next country is El Salvador, where population sta bility is projected for 2075 (The World Bank, 1989). For both Guatamala and Honduras, population stability is not projected until 2080, and for Nicaragua, it is not until 2085 that popu lation stability is projected (The World Bank, 1989).
THE IMPLICATIONS OF EXCESSIVE POPULATION GROWTH
The impact on development social, economic, and politi cal of excessive population growth is considered in this dis cussion. El Salvador is used as the vehicle for this consider ation.
Economic growth and development depends upon the formation of two types of capital human capital and financial capital (Thirlwall, 1989). In this context, the population of a coun try is considered to be one of its basic resources which must be used as a form of capital for its economic development. The population of a country is formed into human capital through the process of education, and through the replacement of human labor by technology, in order to free human labor for higher uses.
In order to form a population into human capital, how ever, resources must be allocated to the task. For all coun triesand, particularly for developing countries, such as those located in Central America, the allocation of resources to the d...