The growing human population, if not stabilized, will create a strain on the natural resources. Many countries realize this and have been making changes to family planning. Two of the more notable countries are Brazil and China. China has been know to have a controversial and straightforward policy responding to this problem. Chinese law prohibited families from having more than one child. In contrast, Brazil has no official government policies concerning family planning yet still sees a stabilized population as a result of various improved social programs. In the long run, both were effective in eventually controlling population growth, but at what cost?
Most people have heard of China’s one child policy, but many do not know why such a controversial policy was put into law. The law was introduced by Deng Xiaoping in 1978, after many failed government policies had caused famines throughout the country. As a result many Chinese came to the realization that the resources available were limited and drastic changes needed to be made to maintain those resources for future generations. At that time the population of China had grown to 975 million and could eventually lead to overcrowding, unemployment, and uncontrollable pollution. Therefore a policy of only having more
…show more content…
This can be proven from recently when China reversed their previous one child policy now allowing families to have two children. Those changes were obviously due to ineffectiveness of their plan in the long run. Brazil on the other hand, has seen consistent economic growth and doesn’t not seem to be slowing down anytime soon. Additionally increased safe drinking water and improved sanitation has helped the citizens of Brazil live more safer and more productive lives. Brazil has successfully stabilized its population without strict laws, that many would protest against, and has created a more safe and equal country as a
Imagine having to be told by the government that you were only allowed to have one child because of your ethnicity and then being forced to pay for an additional child if it happened. China fell under Communist control in 1949 with Mao Zedong leading the country. China had just gotten out of a bad war so Chairman Mao believed that the Chinese people should have as many babies as they could; he called this plan the Great Leap Forward. Soon, China was captured in a famine that killed nearly 30 million people, so Mao told the Chinese people to have smaller families. Mao Zedong created the One-Child Policy (OCP) to help prevent large families. It seemed a great idea at the time, but would soon lead to severe social issues, gender issues, and ironically, population issues.
One of the more extreme measures taken in an attempt to control population has been China's one-child policy. Population advocate Garet Hardin suggests the rest of the world adopt similar policies. This paper is to show a country's government acting on theories that Hardin is popular for and the ethical and environmental effects that it had on people and the land. Hardin fails to see the ethical problems laid out by governments that suppress peoples thoughts and beliefs.
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 one-child policy in China forces families to only have one child by using harsh treatments such as undocumented children, forced abortions, and fines. The policy affects the elderly, economy, education levels, personality of children and the value of girls in China. Deng Xiaoping, a Chinese leader, created the one-child policy in 1979 in order to limit population growth of the Han Chinese. The policy takes away couples’ rights to have more than one child. Why does the government have to issue such harsh punishments to the breakers of the policy?
China’s One-Child Policy was introduced 35 years ago on September 25, 1979, by the Chinese Communist Party. Deng Xiao Ping wrote in an open letter to limit the population growth in china. This policy constrains every couple in China to have only one child. Couples with a supernumerary child without a permit will be fined thousands of dollars or be forced into abortion.
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
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 ...
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 statics). However, China still has a long way to go in this aspect, for the overpopulation is still serious now, just like what have 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.
Human population is drastically increasing by the second, with the addition of one billion people every 12 years. Overpopulation creates an abundant amount of issues ranging from environmental and social problems. Nations attaining copious amounts of population introduce a wide array of problems to the world around and such nations. These environmental problems consist of but are not limited to lack of resources such as food and water; which may cause malnutrition in large populations, poor air quality, and overuse of fossil fuels such as petroleum. Social issues that arise from having a superabundant population consist of overcrowding, limits on freedom, and an increased amount of uprising and conflict within the nation itself. China and India are the two most populated countries in the world. China has a population of 1.34 billion and India closely follows behind as the second most populated country with a population of 1.21 billion (Index Mundi). This accounts for 37% of the world’s population (Index Mundi). China contains up to 20 percent of the world’s population ,which is 1.3 billion people and India is forecasted to soon surpass China’s population in the year 2028 according to the United Nations (5). Due to the increasingly large amount population, China and India have conducted several policies throughout the past. These policies range from China’s strict One-Child policy to India’s flexible National Population policy. In retrospect, if India’s government does not become more strict and enforce their population policies as well as provide proper sexual education, India’s population will surpass the population of China within
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
Thomas Malthus, an 18th century economist, voraciously argued that overpopulation would inevitably deplete all natural resources, increase poverty, and social disorder. Despite that his predictions did not include technology improvements, his pessimistic views are the reasons behind the major emphasis on population control. Neo-Malthusian analysts have been arguing that developing nations have no time to reduce fertility rates through social development like developed nations did. Thus the only cost effective way to defuse the population bomb is through direct reduction of fertility rates. The most influential conferences that resulted in major emphasis on the population control through reduction of fertility rates include the Teheran conference in 1968 and the Cairo conference of 1994. The Teheran conference concluded that population growth contrib...
...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.