Faced with these are powerful economic incentives, it is not surprising that many parents choose to have larger families. Only when countries become rich enough to reduce infant mortality rates, ensure sufficient food supplies, improve health care, and perhaps someday provide pensions, will these economic incentives for larger families go away. It is not enough to assume that education alone is the answer to population growth issues. Education without economic improvements would not be effective if people continue to suffer from economic circumstances that make large family size necessary. The best way to reduce the population growth problem is to bring about satisfactory development for the poorest people.
Most people think that poverty causes hunger.
In reality, it's often the other way around. Children who are born to hungry mothers are more likely to suffer from low birth weight. Many of these children are chronically malnourished during the most crucial stage of development, the first two years of life. These children rarely recover the basic development facilities needed to function in a literate society. When people think of hunger, they often think of dramatic images of famines in Ethiopia or Somalia.