China S Population Policy Essay

China’s One Child Policy

Population policies are the measures taken by the government to influence the population growth of the country. There are two types of population policies, which are pro-natalist and anti-natalist.

A pro-natalist policy is a policy where the main objective is to increase birth rates and total fertility rate. However, a person cannot be forced to have children. As a result, the government tries to offer incentives to such as free education, and extended maternity leave and pay to encourage women to have children. Extended maternity leave and pay allows a mother to be given a longer time off work but still get paid. A pro-natalist policy is usually implemented on countries that are experiencing ageing (high dependency ratio) or have a shortage of people who are economically active (low birth rates and total fertility). An example of a pro-natalist policy is the “Have three or more (if you can afford it)” policy in Singapore, which was introduced in 1987.

Another type or population policy is anti-natalist. Anti-natalist policies try to reduce the number of birth rate by offering education on contraception and increasing the population’s knowledge on family planning. An anti-natalist policy is usually introduced in countries that are overpopulated. This means that the resources in the country are not sufficient for the number of people. In addition, anti-natalist policies are carried out in countries with a high proportion of young people (high birth rate and fertility rate). An example of an anti-natalist policy is the “One Child Policy” in China.

China is the world’s most populated country with a total population of over 1.35 billion. This is more than the combined population of Europe, North America, South America and Japan. China experienced rapid population growth after 1949. The population increased from 540 million in 1949 to 940 million by 1976.

Figure 1.1 shows the population pyramid of China in 1950. The pyramid shows a wide base, which suggests that China has a high birth rate. During this time, the birth rate was 37 births per 1000 people per year. In addition, the slopes are quite steep which indicates that the death rate is also relatively high. In 1950, China had a death rate of 21 deaths per year. Furthermore, the pyramid shows a wide base and narrow top. This shows that China has a higher proportion of the younger population compared to the elder population. 34.4% of China’s population are young dependents while only 4.4% of the population are old dependents.

During the time when Chairman Mao was the leader of China, he encouraged families to have as many children as possible. This is because, he believed that population growth would bring money to the country and help China produce more food, build a better army, develop water control and establish communication systems. The population increased rapidly after World War II. As seen on fig. 1.2, the graph is steepest between 1950 and 1980, which shows the highest population growth. Soon, China became overpopulated and because of this, China does not have enough available resources to sustain the number of people living in China. It was difficult to provide food for everyone and China couldn’t afford to provide enough schools and good basic health care. China has 20% of the world population but only has 7% of the earth’s land surface. In addition, China faces degradation of land and resources, pollution and also unfavorable living conditions.

Due to overpopulation in China, the government introduced an anti-natalist policy, which is the “One Child Policy” in 1979. The policy limits families to only having 1 child. However, in rural areas, families are allowed to have 2 children without incurring penalties. Some provinces allow families to have a second child if their first child is a daughter, provided that they are 3 or 4 years apart. In addition, couples who and only child themselves are allowed to have 2 children. Families who only have 1 child are given incentives such as better education for the child, preferential access to housing, health services and increased role in the workplace for the parents. However, children with 2 or more children were fined and some are forced to do abortions.

The one child policy has led China’s fertility rate to fall from 6 births per woman in 1980 to only 1.7 births per woman in 2009. This is below the 2.1 rate, which would keep a population stable. Moreover, the policy successfully prevented 400 million births as of 2011. Moreover, the availability of contraception is increasing which will allow birth rate to further decrease. In addition, One Child policy has reduced the problems of overpopulation. This is has allowed China to have less pressure on social services, waste disposal and housing.

However, the one child policy has led to a typical Chinese child today to have two parents and four grandparents to look after when they reach old age whereas a married couple can have up to four parents and eight grandparents to look after. As a result, more old people homes will be needed. In addition, the percentage of population in China aged over 65 will increase rapidly compared to the working age. The percentage of the elderly was 10% in 2009 but is estimated to reach 40% by 2050. Not only that, China is expected to have a higher proportion of elderly compared to children by 2025. Moreover, Chinese society traditionally prefers to have a son. Since couples are only allowed to have one child, baby girls are often abandoned and given up for adoption. It is also estimated that the number of men will outnumber the number of women by 30 million in 2020. This will cause men to find it hard to get marries.

The population pyramid of China in 1950 has severely changed compared to the population pyramid of 2012. As seen on fig. 1.1, the population pyramid in 1950 had a wide base, which shows high birth rate. However, due to the one child policy, the population pyramid in 2012 has a much narrower base. This implies that the birth rate is now much lower as families are forced to only have 1 child. The population pyramid of China in 1950 in fig 1.1 shows a small amount of elderly as it has a narrow top. On the other hand, the population pyramid of China in 2012 shown on fig. 1.3 shows a relatively wider top. This suggests that the proportion of elderly is now larger than in 1950 and the population is expected to have a longer life span. This may be because of better medical and health care and improvements in technology.

In conclusion, I think that the one child policy is a very effective policy in reducing birth rates and overcoming population. However, it shouldn’t be used as a long-term policy as it would lead to an ageing population. Over population can cause shortage of labor, which can affect the country’s economy. Therefore, I believe that once China has reached a stable population growth and has overcome overpopulation, China should remove the one child policy and instead encourage families to have 2 children. This way, China will not experience ageing population and a child will not have to take care of too many elderly when they grow older.

Bibliography: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/One-child_policy http://www.gsdp.gov.qa/portal/page/portal/ppc/PPC_home/pop_policy http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Population_control_in_Singapore http://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/ks3/geography/places/contrasts_within_continent/revision/6/ http://www.case.edu/affil/tibet/tibetanSociety/documents/Riley2004.pdf http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/One-child_policy http://www.codewit.com/asia-pacific/15717-overpopulation-in-china http://www.shenzhenparty.com/abpo-one-child-policy-incentives-support-for-the-family Complete Geography for Cambridge IGCSE textbook by David Kelly and Muriel Fretwell pg. 21-22