Population Growth

[CygnusZ]

I've been playing on sub-normal and seem to notice that all the other galactic civilizations, despite being behind me in ALL other ways, do have higher population totals than me easily. What can I do at the beginning of the game in order to boost my population?

[Pyrkaige]

Simple answer: keep taxes low at the start (under 50%). That is the primary reason that your population will grow slowly. There are many other things you can do to help; make sure you research the Medical techs, and build Aphrodisiacs if you can to help boost population growth.

As far as taxes go you may want to raise them initially to offset raising production for the very first expansion bounce, but you don't want to keep them above 50% for long periods of time until later in the game when you can compensate with other factors (morale, techs, etc.)

[vishniac]

There must be something else.
I keep my taxes around 33-37%, and research early the green techs. I usually get the Aphrodisiac but... they have more pop!

[Ellestar]

You need morale 100 (maybe also 99?) on the planet if you want fastest growth. If morale on planet = 54 (depends on path), population growth ~ 0. In range 98-55 growth is ~1/2 of max.
So build planetary quality enchancements and morale increasing buildings if you want good population. Watch for taxes. This is more important than Aphrodisiac IMHO because morale reduces then population increases, and with better pop. growth you just hit limit (for this planet quality, morale enchancements and tax level) somewhat faster.
Also, if you have more planets, your pop on each planet is lower and so morale is better > faster pop growth.