World Population
Works Cited Not Included
Population causes a heated debate among many people. The world's population has exceeded 6.5 billion and continues to increase about another 76 million each year. The three most populated countries are China, India, and the United States. Scientists have become worried that the population will double within the next 50 years, exceeding 12 billion people. With scarce natural resources and the strain that a doubling in population will cause on food availability, people become more wary about population control. What is population control? Population Control is the practice of limiting population increase, usually by reducing the birth rate (www.wikipedia.org).
The first country to adopt a
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Samuel states in his article, "The Development of India's Policy of Population Control": "This policy has not yet received the attention merited by its importance for India's development."
China leads India in population by about 2 million people, putting China at the top of the list with 1.3 billion people, roughly 20 per cent of the world's population (www.wikipedia.org). What has China done in the effort to slow the ever growing population? In 1979, China introduced a policy limiting one child per family. This was unprecedented. In 1986, the limit increased to two children per family, as long as the family was non-Han. (Han is the ethnic majority in China). Some rural Han families were also allowed to have two children, as long as the firstborn child was a female. The goal in doing this was to limit the population to below 1.37 billion by the year 2010. Some families refused to adhere to the family limitation policies. For example, they sabotaged government mandated contraceptives and paid doctors to claim to have performed abortions.
It has been 28 years since the policy was set, and there have been some gender fluctuation within the Chinese population. At first, the Chinese families only wanted male children in order to carry on the family name and honor. Many families with daughters born wanted abortions or simply killed the females after birth. In 1995, 1,166 male children were born for every
Over population is an extremely serious problem facing the world today. According to an article from Newsweek in Oct. 2009 called “Where do babies come from?”, today’s world population has reached over 6.6 billion people. Also the article mentioned that in 2009 57.4% of all new born babies who were born this year came from Asia alone. This is an issue because over population can lead to hasty consumption of resources. China who has one of the largest population in the world with over 1.3 billion people, has taken a stance against over population.
China is the world's most populous nation and its population has, on average, increased by over 25 people every minute, every day for the past 40 years. (Richards 5) For a developing country such as China, with 22 percent of the world's population and only 7 percent of the world's arable land, rapid and persistent population growth can contribute significantly to the nation's poverty levels and restrain its potential for economic growth. (Gu 42) China's one-child family policy was first announced in 1979. In a 1979 speech, Deng Xiaoping drew the first outlines of a policy to limit population growth, "Use whatever means you must to control China's population. Just do it." (Mosher 50)
China's one child policy was incredibly negative towards its people. In China, boys are culturally favored over girls, because of this the practice of infanticide has become more common due to the policy, this is stated in Imbalance and Discrimination where it is stated, "With boys being viewed as culturally preferable, the practice of female infanticide...was resumed in some areas shortly after the one-child policy went into effect" (Document E). This quote demonstrates the negative effects to come out of the one child policy, because parents can only have one child, parents in China will want a boy over a girl as it is more culturally
Most females are not respected and are heavily pressured by their parents. Many Chinese women are expected to be in arranged marriages and are not respected in their family or the work-place. Woman that aren’t even born yet suffer from infanticide. If the parents came to find that they were having a girl from ultrasound- they would abort that child and try for a boy causing pre-birth ultrasounds to be banned. “Negative social consequences, particularly sex discrimination. With boys being viewed as culturally preferable, the practice of female infanticide was resumed in some areas shortly after the one-child policy took effect.” (Document E) “I hate to say it but the one-child policy should party be blamed for some social issues in youth today.” “She wished she has a brother or sister to share all the attention.” (Document F) This evidence supports the claim that the one-child policy was a bad policy because women have always been culturally no preferable, causing unborn females to be aborted.
As Mingliang states, “the Chinese preference for at least one son is well documented” (3). Having two sons in a family is very unusual in China. Due to the preferences of having sons, the abortion rates have increased. Abortion is well known in China, as is the “missing girls” phenomenon. Shaou, Dodge, and Suter argue that, “of the seven million abortions annually in China, the International Planned Parenthood Federation indicates that more than 70 percent are female unborn children”(4). This is a big percentage, and the number of girls in this country is decreasing every year. People are using different ways to limit the number of girls. Moreover, if a woman does not want to abort, she is forced to do so. Bluett argues that, “abortions are performed throughout the entire nine-month period, even up to the point of childbirth” (3), simply saying the increase in sex ration is caused mainly by son preference, which is as a tradition in China. It is significant to mention that because of the gender imbalance, younger generations are facing other problems. According to Bluett, “many males are left without a wife, which leads to an increase in human trafficking” (5). The one child policy is causing a lot of troubles and China has to make sure to reduce the negative effects of this policy.
First, China’s One-Child Policy was upsetting to many females. In document D it
1a. China and Japan are both industrialized countries where population is decreasing; however, they are both decreasing due to different social, economic, or political factors. With 1.33 billion people, China has been one of the world’s most populous countries, however due to the overpopulation crisis; it caused implications and strain upon the country’s energy and resources. This called for the government attention to fix the issue of overpopulation by developing the “one-child policy” which limits couples to having only one child each. The overall outcome of the policy was to reduce population growth, increase economic growth, limit poverty, and to create better health for the citizens of China. Governments
China and India are the two countries that have the highest population in the world. Both countries have realised that family planning and population control had to happen around the 1950's for India and the 1970's for China. This essay will seek to compare and contrast China and India, focusing on what the major problems facing both are, why have they both had to implement policies regarding population control, and the long-term and short-term effects that these policies have on the two countries.
In October 12, 1999, the world's population has reached to 6 billion people. about only 12 years later (October 31, 2011) the world has gone up to 7 billion. Many people on the planet are worried about the world population going too high. They fear that too many people would result in starvation and quick depletion of resources. Some people believe that we should have some type of law that would limit the number of children we can have in each family. Something similar has come true in China about 30 years ago. In September 25, 1980, China's One-Child Policy has been created. This policy keeps parents from having more than one baby with the exception of twins, triplets, quadruplets, and so on. Parents may also have
This policy has had more downsides than upsides. The one-child policy is not the only option to solving overpopulation. Alternatives such as educating people about overpopulation may persuade people to have less children in an ethical form. Another alternative may be for people to migrate to countries where population is low. With there being many alternatives, there is no need for the one-child policy to takes these drastic
The idea of population control started out many years ago. The person who first started Planned Parenthood wanted to control the population of African Americans because she wanted less of them around (National Public Radio). She tried to persuade more African Americans to come to Planned Parenthood than people of other races. In addition, there was forced population control during the Holocaust, a time in World War II, when Nazi Germany tried to exterminate all Jews and others the Germans did not like (National Public Radio). This was because Adolf Hitler discriminated against anyone not white or German. In the late 20th century, the Chinese decided to make a rule to where each family could only have one child (an
This put immense pressure on females to give birth to males as their social statuses depended on it. Males are also known to be the preferred sex because they have a higher wage earning capacity especially since 80% of China’s population live in rural areas. Males also continue patriarchal lines and they have the responsibility of caring for their elderly parents. Many females still face scrutiny and pressure from relatives and neighbors especially in rural communities where traditions are followed more strictly. All of these cultural beliefs have contributed to the reason why sex selection is still a problem today.
Keeping the factors that decrease a population in mind, such as economic instability, poverty, natural disasters, resource destruction, and disease, is important when considering which countries should have to put forward these policies and programs to restrict population growth. The question of which countries should follow these solutions depends upon whether there is a major population boom that threatens the environment, economic stability, and social living conditions. If these things are being threatened, then restricting a population by means of putting forward programs and policies should be
Arzigul Ablet is a woman in China. She got permission from the Chinese government to become pregnant, with one exception: she had to give birth in early January 1997. Arzigul went into labor and ended up having her baby in December of 1996. Due to nature's
The American population is getting older which presents us with many challenges but also present us with potential opportunities. With the length of life and quantity and fraction of older persons rise in most industrialized and many evolving nations, a crucial question is whether this population will be accompanied by continued or better-quality health, an improving quality of life, and adequate social and cost-effective resources. This answer lies in the ability of peoples and societies, as well as modern social, governmental, financial, and health service delivery systems, to provide optimum assistance to older persons.