Relationship between demography and economic growth from the islamic perspective: a case study of Malaysia

There have been various theoretical and empirical studies which analyze the relationship between demography and economic growth using different methodologies, which led to different results, interpretations and continuous debates. Demography as a statistical study of human population, has a significant impact on economic growth given certain area and period of time. This paper aims to include some of Islamic theory of demography and socio economics especially regarding family planning issue, along with other commonly used theories and bring them into the investigation of the long- and short- run relationship among demographic and socioeconomic variables in developing countries. Malaysia is used as a case study. This study, therefore, attempts to unravel the causality direction of demography and economic growth. We used annual data for the total fertility rate and infant mortality rate to represent demography, per capita gross domestic product and consumer price index to represent economic growth, and female labor participation along with female enrollment to secondary education percentage as links between demography and economic growth. Based on standard time series analysis technique, our findings tend to indicate the importance of female enrollment to education in finding a balance in the demography-growth nexus. The finding is important for the policymakers to choose the most suitable framework to model the economy related to changes in demography, health and fertility, education and labor employment