1 in 5 people in the world is Chinese. The population of China has reachedan amazing 1. 4 billion; that’s 6 times the amount of people in America.
These statistics demonstrate China’s major overpopulation problem, whichstretches the country’s resources to the limit. In 1949, when the communists came into power, China’s population was around540 million. By 1982 the population had almost doubled. The communistsencouraged couples to have children and greatly improved living standards.
Healthcare was improved which decreased baby fatalities. To solve this issue the Chinese people have to greatly lower the high levelof the birth rate. A one-child policy has been introduced to help resolvethe problem. The policy rewards people with money and status and is ineffect all over China. The one child policy, although not formally written into law consists ofthree main points.
. advocating delayed marriage and delayed child bearing . advocating fewer and healthier births . advocating one child per couplePeople who refuse to obey the one-child policy lose benefits such as freeeducation and lose their model worker status.
The government also offersmodel factory status to factories with 100% of its workers with one childor less. This adds pressure on workers as they do not want to let theirfactories down. The Chinese face poverty and hardship if their population continues torise. However if the one child policy works they will achieve doubletoday’s living standards. A problem which arises from the one child policy is that there is a veryuneven balance of men and women. Men outnumber women because in Chinapeople prefer to have boys.
The main reason for this is tradition. If theonly child is a girl, the family’s name is not carried on. Also when a mangets married it is tradition in the countryside that he and his wife staywith his parents and the wife helps with the labour. Another factor that affects the population crisis is economic. Chinesepeople who can afford to live without the state benefits, and do not workin a factory don’t feel they need to have one child. People who support the one child policy point to figures that show that ithas reduced China’s population by 250 million.
This relieves some of theobvious stress on China, which already has one fifth of the world’spopulation. Also, education is very expensive in China, so the one childpolicy allows families to concentrate their resources on the single child,thus leading to higher standards of education. Furthermore, women,especially urban women, are now able to concentrate on their careersinstead of raising lots of children. This has led to an increased role forwomen in the workforce.
Those who criticize the policy claim that it has led to extensive humanrights violations and sexual discrimination. As Chinese familiesoverwhelmingly prefer male children to female children, female infanticideis increasing. Also, many people criticize the fact that abortions areoften forced on women who are visibly pregnant with their second child. These abortions are often very late term.
There have been reports of masssterilizations in the rural areas as well. While the one-child policy is one way of solving the population crisis itis not popular with many Chinese people or those in the rest of the worldbecause it takes away human rights.
