ABSTRACT
Most post-war studies of the Javanese rural economy have pointed to Java's "population problem" as an important component of present poverty and as a serious obstacle to future development. This chapter examines briefly two features commonly regarded as characteristic of "population pressure" in Java: "unemployment" or "underemployment," and the general notions of "involution" and "shared poverty". It outlines examples from some recent studies and from field research undertaken by the author in a Javanese village in 1972-73. Java's population history is different from that of many other countries presently experiencing rapid population growth. The classic "population explosion" in Third World countries has normally involved a relatively sudden and surge in population growth rates at some time during the present century, although in some countries this has not occurred until after the Second World War.
