Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Demographic response to environmental pressure in Malawi

  • Published:
Population and Environment Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

The discussion in this paper uses Malawi as a case study to shed some light on the interrelationships between population growth and demographic responses to environmental pressure. It is noted that certain parts of the country that are experiencing extreme environmental stress have began to go through a rapid phase of demographic and social change and transformation. For example, the Southern Region of the country, which has some of the highest densities, is experiencing a fertility transition. There is a spontaneous internal migration pattern from densely populated rural areas to other sparsely populated rural areas. Other non-demographic responses to population pressures are also briefly discussed in this paper.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Subscribe and save

Springer+ Basic
$34.99 /Month
  • Get 10 units per month
  • Download Article/Chapter or eBook
  • 1 Unit = 1 Article or 1 Chapter
  • Cancel anytime
Subscribe now

Buy Now

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Abernethy, V. D. (1979).Population pressure and cultural adjustment. New York: Human Sciences Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Abernethy, V. D. (1993).Population politics: The choices that shape our future. New York: Insight Books/Plenum Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Abernethy, V. D. (1994). Optimism and overpopulation.Atlantic Monthly, 274(6), 84–92.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bassett, T. J., & Crummey, D. (1993).Land in African agrarian systems. Madison: University of Wisconsin Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bilsborrow, R. E. (1987). Population pressures and agricultural development in developing countries: A conceptual framework and recent evidence.World Development, 15(2), 183–203.

    Google Scholar 

  • Blaikie, P., & Brookfield, H. (1987). Defining and debating the problem. In P. Blaikie & H. Brookfield (Eds.).Land degradation and society, pp. 1–26. New York: Methuen and Co.

    Google Scholar 

  • Boserup, E. (1981).Population and technological change. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Brookfield, H. C. (1972). Intensification and disintensification in pacific agriculture: A theoretical approach.Pacific Viewpoint, 13, 30–48.

    Google Scholar 

  • Brown, P., & Podolofsky, A. (1976). Population density, agricultural intensity, land tenure, and group size in the New Guinea highlands.Ethnology, 15, 211–238.

    Google Scholar 

  • Chipande, G. (1988). The impact of demographic changes on rural development in Malawi. In D. L. Ronald et al. (Eds.).Population, food and rural development, pp. 163–174. London: Clarendon Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Coleman, G. (1973). International labor migration from Malawi.Malawi Journal of Social Science, 2, 31–46.

    Google Scholar 

  • Christiansen, R. E. (1984). The pattern of internal migration in response to structural change in the economy of Malawi 1966–1977.Development and Change, 15, 125–151.

    Google Scholar 

  • Davis, K. (1963). The theory of change and response in modern demographic history.Population Index, 29, 345–366.

    Google Scholar 

  • Department of Town and Country Planning. (1987).National physical development plan, volume II: Background study report. Lilongwe: Office of the President and Cabinet.

    Google Scholar 

  • Ekouevi, K., & Adepoju, A. (1995). Adjustment, social sectors, and demographic change in sub-Saharan Africa.Journal of International Development, 7(1), 47–59.

    Google Scholar 

  • French, D. (1986). Confronting an unsolvable problem: Deforestation in Malawi.World Development, 14(4), 531–540.

    Google Scholar 

  • Gaile, G. L. (1995). Review ofPopulation growth and agricultural change in Africa.The Professional Geographer, 47(2), 234–235.

    Google Scholar 

  • Goliber, T. J. (1989). Africa's expanding population: Old problems, new policies.Population Bulletin, 44(3), 1–51.

    Google Scholar 

  • Grigg, D. (1979). Ester Boserups's theory of agrarian change: A critical review.Progress in Human Geography, 3, 64–84.

    Google Scholar 

  • Grossman, L. (1981). The culture ecology of economic development.Annals of the Association of American Geographers, 71(2), 220–236.

    Google Scholar 

  • Harrison, P. (1987).The greening of Africa: Breaking through in the battle for land and food. London: Penguin Books.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hyde, W. F., & Seve, J. E. (1993). The economic role of wood products in tropical deforestation: The severe example of Malawi.Forest Ecology and Management, 57, 283–300.

    Google Scholar 

  • House, W. J., & Zimalirana, G. (1992). Rapid population growth and poverty generation in Malawi.The Journal of Modern African Studies, 30(1), 141–161.

    Google Scholar 

  • Jolly, C. L. (1994). Four theories of population change and the environment.Population and Environment, 16(1), 61–91.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kalipeni, E. (1992). Population redistribution in Malawi since 1964.Geographical Review, 82(1), 13–28.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kalipeni, E. (Ed.), (1994).Population growth and environmental degradation in southern Africa. Boulder, Colorado: Lynne Rienner.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kalipeni, E. (1995). Regional variations of fertility in Malawi.Scandinavian Journal of Development Alternatives 14(1/2), 222–248.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kydd, J. G., & Christiansen, R. E. (1982). Structural change in Malawi since independence: Consequences of a development strategy based on large-scale agriculture.World Development 10, 355–375.

    Google Scholar 

  • Lele, U., & Stone, S. (1989). Population pressure, the environment and agricultural intensification: Variations on the Boserup hypothesis. MADIA Discussion Paper No. 4, Washington, DC: World Bank.

    Google Scholar 

  • Lesthaeghe, R., & Jolly, C. (1995). The start of the sub-Saharan fertility transition: Some answers and many questions.Journal of International Development, 7(1), 25–45.

    Google Scholar 

  • Lockwood, M. (1995). Development policy and the African demographic transition: Issues and questions.Journal of International Development, 7(1), 1–23.

    Google Scholar 

  • Malawi National Atlas. Lilongwe: Office of the President and Cabinet, (1987).

  • Malawi National Statistical Office. (1984).Malawi population census 1977: Analytical report, volume I. Zomba: Government Printer.

    Google Scholar 

  • Malawi National Statistical Office. (1991).Malawi population and housing census 1987: Summary of results. Zomba: Government Printer.

    Google Scholar 

  • Malawi National Statistical Office. (1993).Malawi population and housing census 1987, volume II: Population characteristics. Zomba: Malawi National Statistical Office.

    Google Scholar 

  • Malawi National Statistical Office. (1994).Malawi demographic and health survey 1992. Zomba: Malawi National Statistical Office.

    Google Scholar 

  • Mlia, J. R. N. & Kalipeni, E. (1987). Population growth and national development in Malawi.Malaysian Journal of Tropical Geography, 15, 39–48.

    Google Scholar 

  • Mortimore, M. (1989).Adapting to drought: Farmers, famines and desertification in West Africa. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Mortimore, M. (1993). Population growth and land degradation.Geojournal 31, 15–21.

    Google Scholar 

  • Mott, F. L., & Mott, S. H. (1980). Kenya's record population growth: A dilemma of development.Population Bulletin, 35(3), 1–43.

    Google Scholar 

  • Myers, N. (1989). Population growth, environmental decline and security issues in subSaharan Africa. In A. Ornas, & M. A. Salih, (Eds.).Ecology and politics: Environmental stress and security in Africa. Uppsala: Scandinavian Institute for African Studies.

    Google Scholar 

  • Onuoha, N. C. & Timaeus, I. M. (1995). Has a fertility transition begun in West Africa?Journal of International Development, 7(1), 93–116.

    Google Scholar 

  • Orubuloye, I. O. (1995). The demographic situation in Nigeria and prospects for fertility transition.Journal of International Development, 7(1), 135–144.

    Google Scholar 

  • Rasch, H. (1994). Mapping of vegetation, land cover, and land use by satellite: Experience and conclusions for future project applications.Photogrammetric Engineering and Remote Sensing, 60(3), 265–271.

    Google Scholar 

  • Repetto, R. (1989). Soil loss and population on Java. In K. Davis, M. Bernstam, & H. Sellers (Eds.).Population and resources in a changing world, pp. 305–314. Stanford: Morrison Institute for Population and Resource Studies.

    Google Scholar 

  • Robinson, W. C., & Harbison, S. F. (1995). The fertility decline in Kenya.Journal of International Development, 7(1), 25–45.

    Google Scholar 

  • Shapiro, D. (1995). Population growth, changing agricultural practices, and environmental degradation in Zaire.Population and Environment, 16(3), 221–236.

    Google Scholar 

  • Shaw, R. P. (1989). Paradox of population growth and environmental degradation. Paper presented at the annual meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science held in San Francisco, January 1989.

  • Shipton, P. (1989).How private property emerges in Africa: Directed and undirected land tenure reforms in densely settled areas south of the Sahara. Report to the Bureau of Program and Policy Coordination, USAID, Harvard University, Cambridge.

    Google Scholar 

  • Srivastava, M. L., & Jager, H. P. (1989). Spatial distribution and growth of population in Malawi since independence. Paper presented at the national population seminar on population and development in Malawi held at Chancellor College, Zomba, June 5–9, 1989.

  • Simon, J. (1983). Population pressure on the land: Analysis of trends past and future.World Development, 11(9), 825–834.

    Google Scholar 

  • Tiffen, M., Mortimore, M., & Gichuki, F. (1994).More people, less erosion. Chichester: John Wiley and Sons.

    Google Scholar 

  • Timberlake, L. (1985).Africa in crisis: The causes and cure of environmental bankruptcy. London: Earthscan.

    Google Scholar 

  • Turner, G. L. II et al. (1977). Population pressure and agricultural intensity.Annals of the Association of American Geographers 67, 384–396.

    Google Scholar 

  • Weeks, J. R. (1994).Population: An introduction to concepts and issues. Belmont, Ca: Wadsworth Publishing Company.

    Google Scholar 

  • World Bank. (1992).Malawi: population sector study. Washington, DC: World Bank.

    Google Scholar 

  • Zimmerer, K. S. (1991). Wetland production and smallholder persistence: Agricultural change in a highland Peruvian region.Annals of the Association of American Geographers, 81(3), 443–463.

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Geography, 220 Davenport Hall, University of Illinois, 607 South Mathews Avenue, 61801, Urbana, IL

    Ezekiel Kalipeni

Authors
  1. Ezekiel Kalipeni
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Kalipeni, E. Demographic response to environmental pressure in Malawi. Popul Environ 17, 285–308 (1996). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02208230

Download citation

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02208230

Keywords

Search

Navigation