Problems & Issues

China's Increasing Population &

One-Child Policy

Current Population

1 out of every 5 people in the world today resides in China - the largest population in the world. At the end of 1996, China had 1.224 billion people, up 12.68 million from the prior year. By contrast, the United States has the 3^rd largest population, and accounts for only 1 out of every 20 people. Also in comparison, in 1997 E. Asia had 1.46 billion people, S. Asia had 1.42 billion people, & Europe (including Russia) had 0.73 billion people. China's birth rate has dropped, but birth control policy is still a controversial issue. President Jiang Zemin said, "An effort must be made to ensure that the country's population is held to 1.3 billion by the end of the century". China launched its birth control policy in 1979 when its population reached nearly 1 billion after Chairman Mao Tse-tung preached for a large population to strengthen China. China's policy originated from the fact that it needs to feed 22% of the world's population on 7% of it's agricultural land¹. China says that its growth has slowed within the past five years. The annual rate of increase was down 0.34% during 1991-'95, from 1986-'90. Still however, China wished to delay the 1.2 billion mark until the year 2000. Now it has to try to limit it to 1.3 billion².

History

In 1949, when China became a communist nation, the population was about 541 million. Over the following 10 years, it increased by another 118 million. It continued to rise through the 60's. The government encouraged this so they could help China develop water control and communication infrastructures. They also thought it could help produce more food and strengthen their nation's defense. 20 years later, the millions born during that period contributed to another baby boom. By 1970, there were roughly 830 million Chinese. With the introduction of the one-child policy, the population growth has slowed with probably 250 million less births since 1979. Sadly though, the policy has also led to an increase in female infanticide due to sons still being preferred over daughters. These unregistered births have probably reached somewhere between 5 and 10 million a year. However, "If China's population had continued to increase as it was in 1970, the country would have had 1.3 billion people by 1991"³.

Changing Population

Not only is the population growing, but it is changing too. First, the people are aging. "The number of people 65 or older is expected to reach 90 million by the year 2000 and 167 million by 2020, compared with an elderly population of 66 million in 1990". The population is also becoming more urban. In 1990, the urban population was at 297 million, up 90 million from 1982. Beijing's population rose 17%, Shanghai's 13%. Due to the population increases, China's agriculture, cities, energy supplies, and forests have all come under stress⁴.

The Policy

To slow the population growth, the Chinese Government created a new rural health system in the mid-1960's, that provided free family planning. They, along with political pressure to limit family size, led to half of the fertility rate dropping in the 1970's. When China introduced its one-child-per-family policy, the fertility rate dropped even more. The policy was created in 1979 not only deal with the huge population problem but as a prerequisite for the social and financial planning necessary in a socialist system. Couples that had only one child were financially rewarded. While the "one-child" policy is often thought of as a law, in reality it is merely a policy enforced within different regions of China. National regulation in China encourages families to have only one child. The policy is more strictly enforced in urban areas. Authorized births receive coupons from the government. Although not a law, it is enforced enough to make most couples to obey it. In the rural areas where male children were more important, the program isn't popularly received. Currently, the policy is only enforced in the cities⁴.

There are rewards and exceptions to the policy. Rewards include financial rewards, extended maternity leave, preferred treatment, and increases in allotted land. Punishments could include fines, cancellation of government benefits, and for those who work for the government, uncertain job security. Exceptions allowed by the government are where the 1^st child is unable to work, a pregnancy after the decision to adopt, risk of losing the family lineage, and those that only have female children.

Some feel the policy was unnecessarily implemented. Peter Zhang, a liberal columnist for "The New Australian" says that the one-child policy was created too late, and the fertility rate has remained unchanged, rendering the policy largely ineffectual. He suggests that China is entering the stage of the demographic transition. Though he continues the forces behind the demographic transition are far from fully understood, he says that prosperity can cause couple's behaviors to change, changing fertility rates as well. Families no longer look at children has an economical good or a form of government benefits. These changes in attitudes naturally changes the increase in population. He attributes the differences between urban and rural fertility rates, not to the one-child policy, but to "differences in living standards and expectations"⁵.

Conclusion

Overpopulation is our number one global problem. Many question controlling population through legislation. Even after the 20 years that the Chinese civilization has entrusted this solution to solve their problem, some still violate the policy. However, this doesn't imply that legislative control is wrong, especially when dealing with the extremes facing China. I doubt that voluntary promises would've produced the same effect as the government enforced one-child policy . Sometimes we have to take away the rights of some, to benefit the whole, by solving the population problem. Whether the Chinese Government was right or wrong is disputable - what isn't is that the population seems to be under control … for now.

Footnotes

1. Mar. 10, 1997. "China Population Continues to Grow". 1997 Reuter Information Service. Beijing.

2. Undated. "China Population Growth Slows - Survey". Nando Times. Beijing.

3. "China's Population Reaches 1.2 Billion". http://www.reedbooks.com.au/heinemann/hot/chinapop.html.

4. "China's Population Future." http://www.wri.org/wri/enved/giants/chi-pop.html.

5. Zhang, Peter. July 13-19, 1998. "The Failure of Beijing's One-Child Policy". The New Australian. No. 82.