Case study - Population management - *AS & IGCSE*

Population Management: China One child policy

Problem: Birth rate too high (44 per 1000 in 1950) & (31 per 1000 in 2008)

In 1950 the People’s Republic of China was formed. Their philosophy was that a large population was a strong nation. During the late 50’s this time in China was called ‘The Great Leap Forward’ where industrial production had to be increased, which meant hardly any effort was put into farming. This caused a famine in which 20 million people died (which caused birth rates to fall and death rates to rise causing a population decrease).  During the 1960’s the Cultural Revolution took place, which encouraged more people to have children. The growth was so rapid that it caused concern that the government felt something must be done to slow down growth.

Today in China there is a population of 1.33 billion (20% of the world’s population) and is growing bigger by the day. The policy was put in place in 1979 when the Chinese government felt the birth rate was way too high for the resources available and that the country was becoming overpopulated. Over 95% of the population live on only 40% of China (Predominately the south eastern side).

Initial rules: 

-        One child per couple

-        Couples had to apply for licenses to get married and to have a child

-        Women could get married at 20

-        Men could get married at 22

-        People working for state firms would be made redundant if they had a second child

-        Heavy fines may occur from having additional children

-        Forced sterilisation of ‘repeat offenders’

-        Forced abortions

Those who conformed:

-        Got priority housing

-        Free education

-        Family benefits

Early exceptions

-        If a couple’s child died or had a disability the couple could have another one

-        Couples who were member of one of the 56 minorities (8% of the total population) could have two children or in very remote areas some families were allowed four children. This is seen a measure to increase minority numbers to avoid racial conflict between the Han.

-        Rural farmers could have a second if the first was a girl

-        Some enforcers would give out fines for additional children (bribes)

2008 exceptions

-        All rural families could have two children

-        If two on-child children marry they can apply to have two

-        Family planning is voluntary and a wider choice of contraceptives

The policy is estimated to have prevented 230 million children

Now only 1 in 5 people in the world live in China, compared with an estimated 2 in 5 if the policy was not in place

Issues:

-        Now there is a shortage of Chinese females due to couples wanting males as their only child. Over 51.46% of the population is male and 48.54% are female.  The female shortage is usually caused by female infanticide. The abortions of females are now illegal to increase the number of females.

-        Too few babies are being born to care for the ageing population

-        The birth rate has decreased 2% in the past 20 years and has gone below replacement level.

-        There are now to few females. Only 48.54% of the population are females, causing a lot of men to be ‘eternally single’.

-        It is estimated there are only 100 newborn girls born to every 118 newborn boys born in China

-        There may be a labour shortage in the future which may threaten China’s rapid industrialisation