Why Demography Matters for Development

Apoorva Jadhav, U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID)

Demography has never been more important, yet inadequately explored, in international development than it is today. I explore this statement and more, and outline key development outcomes and how a lens of demography and demographic analysis better serves the design of international and national programs. I use the USAID Policy Framework (2023) to frame examples of how demography is or is not used to highlight nuances in what are being called the “greatest challenges of our time”: conflict, displacement, and food insecurity; the climate crisis; repression and corruption; fragile primary health care systems; and barriers to inclusive growth and equitable opportunity. Finally, I provide recommendations on how development agencies can be more thoughtful toward using demography to craft a new model of development in the future.

Keywords: Population and Development, Population, Environment, and Climate Change, Population Policies, Population projections, forecasts, and estimations

See extended abstract.