Buvinic, MayraGupta, Monica DaCasabonne, Ursula2012-03-302012-03-302009-11-30World Bank Economic Review1564-698Xhttps://hdl.handle.net/10986/4506Much has been written on gender inequality and how it affects fertility and mortality outcomes as well as economic outcomes. What is not well understood is the role of gender inequality, embedded in the behavior of the family, the market, and society, in mediating the impact of demographic processes on economic outcomes. This article reviews the empirical evidence on the possible economic impacts of gender inequalities that work by exacerbating demographic stresses associated with different demographic scenarios and reducing the prospects of gains when demographic conditions improve. It defines four demographic scenarios and discusses which public policies are more effective in each scenario in reducing the constraints that gender inequality imposes on poverty reductionCC BY-NC-ND 3.0 IGOadult mortalityarmed conflictchild mortalitydemographic changedependency ratioseconomic growthelderlyequality of opportunityfertilitygender differentialsgender equalitygender inequalitiesgender inequalityhuman capitallabor forcelow fertilitymortalitypremature adult mortalityrole of genderworking-age populationJournal ArticleWorld Bank10.1596/4506