ABSTRACT
Only a few years ago the word India called to mind maharajas and jewels, snake charmers, elephants, tigers, cobras, and mongooses. The density of the rural population is twice that of Europe; moreover, at least two thirds of India's population is dependent on agriculture as the principal means of livelihood compared to less than a third in Europe. The most comprehensive, careful, and impressive analysis of the relationship between population growth and economic development in low-income countries is a book by Coale and Hoover; and India serves as the case history that is analyzed in detail. Coale and Hoover state that "Our principal aim in analyzing the possible changes in the Indian economy is to bring out the important qualitative differences in economic development resulting from a choice of a very rapid population growth or a less rapid population growth". Population growth, rather than size alone, is the significant demographic factor in economic development in India.
