Population, Prosperity and Poverty

This book, which reports on fieldwork done in an exceedingly densely populated locality of rural Hausaland (Dorayi) in 1971–1972, is complete in itself. In it Dr Hill compares and contrasts Dorayi with the much less densely populated village of her previous study, with special reference to the consequences of high and persistent population density; she also attempts to interpret the present-day stability of this stagnating, impoverished, overcrowded community in terms of socio-economic conditions in rural Kano Emirate generally in very early colonial times, utilising archival as well as field material. Some of the consequences of persistent population pressure are most surprising (an example is the brake it puts on outward migration): they will be eagerly studied by demographers who commonly search in vain for relevant socio-economic studies, particularly any dealing with the plight of the most impoverished, who tend to get overlooked.