POPULATION GROWTH AND ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT IN RAJASTHAN: A PRINCIPAL COMPONENT ANALYSIS BASED APPROACH

The paper examines the link between demographic variables and various dimensions of economic development, using district level data of Rajasthan, India. In Rajasthan, the progress of socio-economic development among districts is not uniform. The paper examines the existing variability of inter-district development and thereby identifying the indicators responsible for the diversity in development. Instead of studying the variability of a particular variable across districts, a composite index based on several indicators has been developed using principal component analysis and districts are arranged according to indices derived using seven broadly accepted components. The findings of the analysis support the general perception about the districts. It shows Kota on the top with a score of 2.147 in the economic development dimension, which is followed by Jaipur, Ganganagar, Hanumangarh and Ajmer. Barmer was the poorest of all, preceded by Dungarpur, Jalor, Banswara, Dholpur and Jaisalmer. It discloses, higher the level of economic development, lower will be the level of demographic development. Further, multiple regression explained that first dimension of economic development which includes per capita net district domestic product, share of urban population, literacy, electricity, toilet and current users of family planning methods has had significant and highest negative impact on demographic variables like crude birth rate, total fertility rate and decadal population growth rate. Thus, the policy implications to control population growth are clearly highlighted and suggest improving these common minimum needs.