Every minute of every day our world’s population is growing. It is growing at a rate of 1.13% annually with an estimated population change of 80 million people per year. Despite the popular stance taken by most that efforts to reduce human population growth are necessary, it goes against human freedom and denies people their rights to make decisions about family size on their own. However, family planning and other measures to prevent major population growth should be put in place, specifically in underdeveloped countries where people generally have large families. Limiting population growth by putting laws in place have not been successful in the past, for example, in China with their one child policy. These rules and laws also cause population …show more content…
By realizing that the real issue is not population but poverty, and by educating the uneducated, this will in turn, help reduce population growth.
In the past, implementing legal measure to limit population growth has not been successful. China is a perfect example of a country that is facing the consequences of limiting population growth. In 1970, China’s population was swiftly approaching a population of one billion people as a result of the encouragement to grow the country’s size to create more manpower. Pressure was placed on government officials to solve the problem as “China’s food supply was strained and the government reversed the campaign against contraceptives” (Clarke). It was encouraged that families have only one child, with a maximum. However, this voluntary program was not successful resulting in a forced one child policy as of September 25, 1980. Although the intention of the one child policy was to benefit China as a whole, it in fact posed consequences for the
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The rapid population growth in underdeveloped and developing countries is a result of people living in poverty with a lack of access to education. According to Earth Policy Institute, “when mortality rates decline quickly but fertility rates fail to follow, countries can find it harder to reduce poverty. Poverty, in turn, increases the likelihood of having many children, trapping families and countries in a vicious cycle” (Data Highlights). Ideally, women should have two children in order to reach the replacement rate necessary to sustain a population. However, in developing countries, the fertility rate per women is over four. As mentioned previously, the reason for the high fertility rates in underdeveloped and developing countries is lack of education. In these countries, access to education is very scarce and it is common that women do not have any access at all, as they are expected to stay at home and care for a family. Due to this reality, women do not have the privilege of attending school and receiving an education on birth control and family planning such as contraceptives. It is proven that “one of the most effective ways to lower population growth and reduce poverty is to provide adequate education for both girls and boys. Countries in which more children are enrolled in school—even at the primary level—tend to have strikingly lower
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.
After the People’s Republic of China was established several factors such as improved sanitation and medicine led to a rapid population increase. Initially, the population growth was considered to be an economic boom [2] because before it occurred the county had faced a century of wars and epidemics. However, by 1962, China started to promote the use of birth control. Later, in 1979 China was faced with a population that was growing out of control[3], and the government decided that in order to combat the extreme population that they needed to take action. Thus, the Chinese government decided to implement a one child policy.
The reason for writing this topic is to increase the understanding of the one child policy implemented in china. This report gives specific statistics, case study and information about the one child policy in China and about the abuse of women by the government for having too many babies. The report provides an analysis and evaluation of the one child policy’s pros and cons. If the one child policy had not been introduced, there would have been a dramatic increase in population. On the other hand, this policy has caused a lot of pain to the family members.
Feng Wang and Cai Yong stated that the fertility rate was already declining and the policy wasn’t necessary for the Chinese people, especially because of the enormous costs. The fertility rate, which is the number of children the average woman has in her lifetime, in China started at 2.7 in 1979 and decreased to 1.7 in 2008. The article “China’s One Child Policy at 30” argued that the policy did not need to be introduced in China because the rates were already lower than Brazil at 4.2 and Thailand at 3.6.
During the first half of 50’s government did not limit the population growth but did the exact opposite and actually encourage families to have more children. This was due to the Mao Zedong’s or Chairman Mao’s believe that more population would mean more economic development, more labor and more growth, however, late 1950’s changed that and that is when China began implementing first population control measures. As population reached 600 million Mao expressed his wish for population to remain in this level. Government soon realized that in order to keep population at this level, long term population control would have to be implemented. First they began by simply distributing various forms of contraceptives among general population. As famine of 1959-1961 struck the country it set the policy aside but as soon as country began to demonstrate signs of recovery the family planning campaign resumed where it left with distribution of contraceptives. By the late 1970s, China had experienced success in decreasing fertility rates by increasing the use of birth control under the slogan "Late, Long and Few". As a result China's population growth dropped by half between 1970 and 1976. Nonetheless, it soon leveled off, making government and officials seek more drastic measures and on September 25, 1980 an open letter by the Chinese Communist Party established One-Child Policy (OCP) also called Family Planning Policy (FPP). Nevertheless the OCP name is misleading since the policy allows for exceptions. For instance rural families with first child being disabled or being girl are allowed to have another child. Also, couples where both bride and groom are single children are allowed to have two ...
Countries in the world hold different attitudes to the population policy, some of them tend to delay the increase of population while others introduce policies to encourage childbirth. After centuries of continual growth, which started at the first industrial revolution, the global population reached over 7 billion individuals in 2013. Research by Ezeh, Bongaarts and Mberu (2012) states that increasing population is a threat to individuals and societies by bring problems based on unsatisfied demand. The “increasing population” in this essay can be defined as net rising in birth rate during a period, especially in the poor developing countries. This essay will argue that the world cannot sustain an increasing population. The reasons for this are firstly, limited nature resources can hardly maintain huge population and environment may be polluted; next, economic problems, especially the gap between the rich and the poor can be caused by increasing demand; and lastly, social wellbeing pressures brought by population growth.
In order to solve the overpopulation issue, the government should pay great attention to it. Some policies, such as “ One China policy”, have already been made in China. They have already paid off. For instance, in 1994, the natural growth rate was 11.21, but in 1999 it was only 8.77 (SFPCC statistics). However, China still has a long way to go in this aspect, for the overpopulation is still serious now, just like what has been mentioned in the previous paragraphs.
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.
There are countless causes of poverty in under developed countries such as overpopulation, disease, and how the government distributes its wealth. When you have people in developing countries have far too many children than they should and don’t have the means to take care of them you get overpopulation, when you get overpopulation you get less job opportunities, and when that happens you people who can’t take care of themselves or their children. Two factors have been shown that correlate with overpopulation which is poverty and education. When you have higher education in a community you will tend to have a decrease in birth because when people get education especially in women you will have a decline in birthrates because when they get their education they usually want to get a good job. (Poverty and overpopulation).
During the rein of Mao Tse-tung China’s population was almost at one million. Mao allowed couples to have as many children as they please because to him, “of all the things in the world people are the most precious.”(Fitzpatrick 2). As the as the population continued to grow the government became concerned and decided that population control was necessary in order to remain able to support the citizens of China. Furthermore, the government feared there would not be enough food to upkeep residents. The next leader, Deng Xioping, created the “One Child Policy” therefore preventing families from having more than one child. On September 25th 1980 the policy was instituted. Subsequently this law has prohibited children and parents the experience of having a big family.
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
Our world is too small for our ever rapidly growing population. One day resources will run dry and vanish, which will bring death and loss to all nations on this planet. Many researchers and scientists have confirmed that the population will reach 10 billion by the end of the century and will continue to stream upward. There are many different ways in trying to decrease population to contain global warming and assist our environmental changes. The only way to steadily succeeding, families must be the regulators of their fertility and future. Environmentalism can head in a negative direction, which may result in population control and even anti-immigrant policies. Can the developing effort of ‘population integrity’ protect our world while recognizing birth moralities?
...he second way to attempt to decrease the population is through increased active family planning programs. Especially in poor countries, it is a lot harder for women just to jump into the work force, and even harder for a poor country to become industrialized. For example, in Bangladesh, one of the world's poorest countries, birth rates have decreased from seven children per family to only 5.5. This is largely because forty percent of Bangladesh's woman now take part in some form of family planning.
According to government officials in China, this policy prevented about 400 million births. Although that seems like a good thing when it comes to population control, we also have to keep in mind the ethical side of things. As of 2014, the Chines government allows their couples to have two children. Other countries have put laws and policies in place to encourage couples to have fewer children, but not forcing them. For example the United States in 1970 put in place a policy that provides contraceptive services, information and supplies to mostly people with lower
...r to decrease population, some countries are educating people on different ways of birth control. Some countries are taking extreme measures, by cutting off any type of government assistance, for having over a certain amount of children.