Contenu du sommaire

The Role of Plantations in the Puerto Rico Economy For twenty years now Puerto Rico has experienced a phenomenal expansion which has relegated the old plantation economy far behind industry and tourism, and which enables the inhabitants of the island to participate more fully in the American way of life. A profound change is occurring in the agricultural domain. Sugar plantations, formerly the center of Puerto Rican economic activity, are plagued with such serious problems that the State has been obliged to purchase several that were menaced with closure. Little by little, the government and the remaining private companies are remodeling the sugar plantations with the view to making them highly mechanized and profitable. Two other pillars of the «colonialist» rural economy, coffee and tobacco, haven't escaped the economic crisis and subsist thanks only to government protection. A new branch of agriculture, on the other hand, is developing well : animal raising. This is oriented towards satisfying the needs of the domestic market, whose growth is following the rate of the increase in the standard of living.

With three million inhabitants, Bangkok-Thonburi urban area gathers nearly one tenth of the population of Thailand. This fact suggests the kind of problems which are being raised since a few years by the disorderly increase of one of the largest asian cities. The case in point is a particularly impressive illustration of a mushroom town pattern. Purposely restricted, this short survey deals with a matter of great concern for Bangkokians of today : housing problems. If we consider the actual needs, studied in relation with existing housing conditions, the average income of city-dwellers and the cost of living, it must be stated that the measures taken are far from being satisfactory.

Uncertainties Regarding African Demography : the Chad selected as an example The example of the Republic of the Chad is characteristic for two reasons : its territory contains practically all the difficulties of terrain and of population that any nation in Black Africa can show as respects a demographic investigation. The demographic data for it has covered the «pre-statistic» and the «statistic» phases of its neighbors, as well as, more recently, a «national» phase that is interesting in many respects. We analyze the results of a demographic survey made in 1964 by INSEE and the census made in 1968, the undertaking of which was poorly programmed and whose fiscal aims were responsible for an under-estimation in the number of people in the population. There are many more women than men ; but the difference wich appears in this area between the North and the South of the country cannot be explained. Fecundity is high, but it varies greatly from one ethnic group to another. The birth rate is higher in the South than in the North, and the same is the case with the death rate. Life expectancy is higher in the North. The Chad poses numerous demographic problems that can only be resolved by new surveys and by the introduction of a strict civil status records system.