Changing population growth rate and its determinants with the beginning of 21th century

Abstract

In 19th century, Sri Lankan population increased slowly like other developing countries. But Sri Lanka began the 20th century with 3.6 million population. At the end of 20th century Sri Lankan population was 18.8 million. Furthermore at the mid of 20th century reported the largest population growth in Sri Lanka. In 1960 both death rate and birth rate began to decrease representing the next stage of population growth. Therefore at the beginning of 21th century population growth rate was less than before. However this changes of the population has effected more problems in Sri Lanka. Thus the main objective of this study was identifying the relationships between the population growth rate and its determinants with the beginning of 21th century in Sri Lanka. The study used time series data from secondary sources in Sri Lanka. To satisfy the objective of the study, charts, descriptive statistics and correlation coefficients have been employed. The data analyzed by SPSS and Excel software. According to results, with the beginning of 21th century the population has been increasing similar to past. The most people representing in 2011. But population growth rate has been going down. The population growth rate is positively related with birth rate, net migration rate, fertility rate, life expectancy and urban population. The death rate is negatively related with population growth rate. But strong relationships is representing with birth rate, life expectancy and urban population. There are not strong relationships between population and its determinants such as death rate, net migration rate and fertility rate. The most related variable for population growth rate is the birth rate. Hence the population changing mostly depend on the birth rate in Sri Lanka with the beginning of 21th century.