While the world has issues with immigration, health care, drugs, gun control, taxes, and so on going on in the world we forget to think about the fact that our world is facing an issue as impractical as population growth. The idea that having a child will create issues for a country is odd, but it is the case for many countries, including the United States of America. “The U.S. is the third most populous country in the world and has the highest population growth rate of all developed countries,” ( Chamie 1) to further analyze this issue to put it in perspective of the global issue it actual is by comparing the United States current issue with population growth to the population growth issue in China.
Since the United States founding in 1776, immigration has brought more than half of America’s population growth. Without immigration, the United States current population of 316 million would be about 143 million (Does 1). As far as China’s history with population growth goes, until the 1960’s they had actually been encouraging their people to have many children because it was believed that power would come with big numbers. The population of China would increase from 540 million to 940 million by 1970, they then started encouraging their people to only have two children, but soon they would begin to create a policy to guarantee that the population growth rate would lower (Wang 1), which was a completely opposite policy than the U.S took.
The policies of the United States regarding population growth aren’t that severe. Politically the United States is thought to be pro-natal, meaning that its national policies in place that encourage people to have more children. Fore-most among these policies is an income tax structure that offer...
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... overpopulation two countries like China and the United States may have completely different policies on this issue, but yet they both are looking at serious complications because of it. China does have a much larger issue than the United States, but it is evident that if changes aren’t made the roles may be reversed, which unfortunately wouldn’t be good for either one. So despite the different culture, government, location, or history we see that they have both come to face the same issue of overpopulation. They must work to find a good policy that balances in between not violating citizen’s moral rights, but also being realistic about what one country can and cannot allow. This is an issue that everyone is aware of even if they don’t approach it correctly, “Our object must be to bring our territory into harmony with the numbers of our population.”― Adolf Hitler.
In the 1950s the People’s Republic of China first implemented the beginnings of the one child policy. It made significant changes to the population and the nation’s growth rate decreased. Professor Yinchu Ma (1957) initiated the policy with his book New Population Theory. His book responded to the huge increase in population growth occurring in China (Singer 1998). Under the Mao republic, leaders saw the population development as a danger to the nation’s economy (White 1994). The political party promoted childbirth in the 1950s and 1960s according to the slogan “one is a good few, two is just enough, and three is over” (White 1994). However these efforts were not successful and there were 250 million additional people in the 1970s. More steps were taken to encourage population control. These steps included focusing on contraceptive and abortion services in the countryside and encouraging later marriages. In 1982 the Chinese population was over one billion and the growth rate made China’s modernization goals more difficult.
In 1979, China decided to establish a one child policy which states that couples are only allowed to have one child, unless they meet certain exceptions[1].In order to understand what social impacts the one child policy has created in China it important to evaluate the history of this law. China’s decision to implement a Child policy has caused possible corruption, an abuse of women’s rights, has led to high rates of female feticide, has created a gender ratio problem for China, and has led to specific problems associated with both the elderly and younger generation. Finally, an assessment of why China’s one child policy is important to the United States allows for a full evaluation of the policy.
Throughout centuries, China has been battling with overpopulation, one of the biggest issues that the nation has been faced with, forcing the government to enforce the one-child policy. The desire to control the rapidly growing population dates back to the Mao Zedong era where the population number was at a ripe 602 million people (Stycos, 1989). He believed that with every mouth comes "two hands". What he did not realize at the time was that too many mouths bring hardship, poverty, and paucity of food supplies. In 1979, the Chinese government decided to enforce a policy that would help minimize the growth of their population (McDonald, 1996). The one-child policy was what they thought would solve the problem. Married couples would have to sign an agreement known as the one-child certificate. This certificate served as a contract between the couple and the Chinese Government stating that the couples and the one child that they have will be granted economic and educational advantages in return for promising not to have more than one child (Audubon, 1994). Since each couple is allowed one child, the gender of that child determines whether or not it stays in China as part of the family.
But why had China to control its population? From 1949 on, Mao Zedong feared war with the United States or the Soviet Union. “China’s millions [of people] were the country’s primary weapon against technologically superior enemies.” The Chinese population grew explosively, with a growth rate of more than 2% per year until 1970. Deng Xiaoping saw the problem in the population explosion and invented the one-child family in 1979. 1981 the one-child policy was introduced nationwide. This policy was effective in the cities, but in the rural areas the goal of minimizing population growth was unsuccessful.
Population expansion has been a serious problem to the human society for a long time because the resources and spaces of the Earth are limited. China, as the third largest country in the world, has one fifth of the world population. Chinese people used to believe that a larger population meant a stronger country. Therefore, from 1962 to 1980, which is the China’s baby boom, the population of China grew from 665 million to 981 million. The sharp population increase brought a series of problems, like environmental pollution, traffic congestion and shortage of water and food supplies. To reduce the population growth rate, in 1979, the Chinese government implemented the famous One-child Policy. This policy was planned as a short-term program, but it is still in use till now because of the successful prevention of about 400 million births. Meanwhile, the One-child Policy has been judged as a violation of human rights and a demographic disaster which brings gender imbalance, aging of the population and manpower shortage. On one hand, it truly lowers the birth rate and population growth rate of China. However, on the other hand, the One-child Policy has already done harm for the Chinese society. Although this policy seems to be undermining the right of procreation of millions of Chinese women, it is still the worst good idea that the Chinese government could have to keep the population down.
Li, Hongbin, Junjian Yi, and Junsen Zhang. "Estimating The Effect Of The One-Child Policy On
Educating the public about the importance of family planning is essential to reduce rapidly increasing birth rates. Human demographics have a profound effect on the population dynamics in both developed and developing nations. In more developed nations, there are significantly lower birth and death rates (Schneider). This would mean that the labor force of these nations is greatly limited. There is a risk of a bigger percentage of the elderly compared to the young generation. A higher older population undermines productivity, thereby inhibiting economic growth. In less developed nations, birth and death rates are high. Their economies struggle to maintain this high population. There is over-reliance on foreign aid. Labor is often transferred to the developed nations. The future of these nations is quite unpredictable (Das
China’s communist party created this policy in 1979 and has prevented over 400 million births with the use of forced abortions and sterilizations like Uzbekistan. In January of 2016, this policy has been changed into a two-child policy due to a realization that there can be an economic consequence to the failing birth-rate. Also, due to the fact that couples can only have one child, the future of China’s population can be a burden. Researchers stated, “The graying population will burden health care and social services, and the world’s second-largest economy will struggle to maintain its growth (Jiang, Steven)”. With the lack of production for more newborns, the population will gradually have a majority of elderly people within their society. The new population policy made add an increase in population, but it still puts a limit on the population. If couples had this policy lifted, it can make the overpopulation problem occur again. Therefore, this transition from one child to two children helps balance out under-population and overpopulation in
Following a thirty five year policy which was geared towards improving economic and social concerns within the region, the Peoples Republic of China has begun to facilitate its family planning regulations. Prior to the establishment of China’s population policy, the population experienced massive increases and decreases of its magnitude. Consequences of civil and global wars before 1949 led to high death rates in the country. As country conflict came to an end, and new leadership, population growth was greatly encouraged by Communist Party Chairman Mao Zedong. During this time, the size of Chinas population grew subs...
Population growth in this world is a major problem today. Population is increasing by 150 people per minute. This is starting to become a major problem because countries are lacking the necessities to balance development and consumption. This overpopulation in China was caused by the excessive amount of birth rates and decreasing number of deaths. Significant increase in population led to a considerably difficult problems of employment and shortage of resources and money. As for the government’s involvement regarding the Family Planning Policy; this law placed high strains on the family planning departments in the government. They had to completely change their ideas and ways of functioning to regulate the new rules that follow this law.
China, being a country that has all eyes on them have become one of the most prominent countries in the world recently. Development within the country has by far surpass the expectations of the people all around the world. Despite all that, China face some of the world’s biggest problems for instance overpopulation. The meaning of overpopulation is the excessive population of an area to the point of overcrowding, depletion of natural resources, or environmental deterioration. And with that, the one-child policy was introduced to control the population of People's Republic of China (PRC) or more commonly known as China. However, this policy may vary slightly in different areas.
In Spite of the great achievements that China has achieved in the recent years, our country is still a developing country, which is facing many serious social problems. The most serious of all is overpopulation, for it has a passive influence on the national economy, education and environment.
Over population has been a global issue for decades. Medical advances have made it possible for people to live longer and have multiple births, which are just some of the factors contributing to this social problem. Many countries have attempted to battle this issue, but none as intensely as China. China allows the government to have full control over family planning to help reduce the population. In 1979 China created a policy called the "One Child Law" which limits couples to only one child. Although the Chinese government hopes to curb the population boom and benefit society, the One Child Policy has morally questionable results, negative impacts on Chinese society, which should be changed.
Over population is a concerning issue in China and Singapore because of the lack of family planning it affects the depletion of jobs and natural resources, crime rates increase, and it cost more for living. There is a lot of controversy over the topic of overpopulation but China and Singapore have experienced issues from overpopulation. The definition of overpopulation is: a function of the number of individuals compared to the relevant resources, such as the water and essential nutrients they need to survive. It can result from an increase in births, a decline in mortality rates, an increase in immigration, or a depletion of resources.
Nowadays a prime example of one such policy is the past one child policy in China. Overpopulation has been an issue in China and the Chinese government has executed their own solution on this issue. The usefulness of the one child policy has been debated but data shows that it has in fact decreased the population during the time it was active. Birth control policies might be a viable solution to the current crisis of overpopulation but many argue that it would be unethical. The situation of China’s overpopulation can be very different from the US situation as well. The American people have much more control with their own personal liberty laws and many argued that a policy that restricts the amount of children our families can have would violate our human right to reproduce. However, birth control policies are not the only