Are Government Attempts to Control Population Ineffective?
“Are Government Attempts to Control Population Ineffective?”
Today, keeping control of the population is a huge issue that is on all of the world leader’s minds. The amount of people you have in your country is hugely important to whether you have enough resources, jobs, food, education, health services etc. It is mandatory that governments keep a track of the population and keep a lid on it if necessary. Many countries have implemented schemes, laws and policies that have tried to change the population demographic for the better of the country. I am going to discuss whether these policies have been effective in their job in controlling population, or not.
In China 1979, a famous policy was instigated by Deng Xiaoping that limited married couples to have only one child. It was the ‘One-Child Policy’. The reasons for its introduction were that previous to Deng, Mao Zedong had encouraged large families to increase productivity. The birth rate in 1970 was 33.43, so Deng knew something had to be done otherwise they would be seeing mass starvation for everyone by the end of the 20th century if the birth rate continued to rise.
They introduced many incentives to give people more of a motivation to have fewer children:
• 5-10% salary bonus for limiting to one child
• Priority in housing, education and health care for ‘only’ children
• Higher pensions on retirement for limiting to one child
Many sanctions were also introduced if the policy was not stuck to:
• 10% salary reduction for having two children
• No extra space allocation for having two children
• Couples have to apply for the right to have children
The One-Child Policy seemed originally like a hopefully effective plan, but there were many fundamental flaws that the Chinese government did not think through. For example it plays unfair against the different classes. They did not take into account that rural families need more farm hands and they usually have more children because of this. They paid
Today, keeping control of the population is a huge issue that is on all of the world leader’s minds. The amount of people you have in your country is hugely important to whether you have enough resources, jobs, food, education, health services etc. It is mandatory that governments keep a track of the population and keep a lid on it if necessary. Many countries have implemented schemes, laws and policies that have tried to change the population demographic for the better of the country. I am going to discuss whether these policies have been effective in their job in controlling population, or not.
In China 1979, a famous policy was instigated by Deng Xiaoping that limited married couples to have only one child. It was the ‘One-Child Policy’. The reasons for its introduction were that previous to Deng, Mao Zedong had encouraged large families to increase productivity. The birth rate in 1970 was 33.43, so Deng knew something had to be done otherwise they would be seeing mass starvation for everyone by the end of the 20th century if the birth rate continued to rise.
They introduced many incentives to give people more of a motivation to have fewer children:
• 5-10% salary bonus for limiting to one child
• Priority in housing, education and health care for ‘only’ children
• Higher pensions on retirement for limiting to one child
Many sanctions were also introduced if the policy was not stuck to:
• 10% salary reduction for having two children
• No extra space allocation for having two children
• Couples have to apply for the right to have children
The One-Child Policy seemed originally like a hopefully effective plan, but there were many fundamental flaws that the Chinese government did not think through. For example it plays unfair against the different classes. They did not take into account that rural families need more farm hands and they usually have more children because of this. They paid