This blog is intended to go along with Population: An Introduction to Concepts and Issues, by John R. Weeks, published by Cengage Learning. The latest edition is the 13th (it will be out in January 2020), but this blog is meant to complement any edition of the book by showing the way in which demographic issues are regularly in the news.

You can download an iPhone app for the 13th edition from the App Store (search for Weeks Population).

If you are a user of my textbook and would like to suggest a blog post idea, please email me at: john.weeks@sdsu.edu

Tuesday, October 8, 2013

Will the US Government Shutdown Lead to Unintended Births or Deaths?

The US Agency for International Development (USAID) is a major contributor to international efforts to bring down death rates and birth rates throughout the developing world. So, is the US government shutdown harming those efforts? So far, the answer is no. The USAID website is business as usual, and the New York Times indicates that this is because foreign aid is considered to be in the national security, and so is funded even when other parts of the government are not--at least for a while. It is not clear how long the money will last. 

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