population policy: measures taken by governments aimed at
influencing population size, growth and decline, distribution or
composition.
- pro-natalist: promote large families
- anti-natalist: encourage limitation of births
- they may also encourage immigration to increase population size
- may also try to change the distribution of the population over a
geographical area - in-migration or displacement
- may be controversial - narrow a populations capacity to choose
even though some nations have expressed their opinion in regards to
population control/distribution, they may have not enforced a population
policy, thus the structure remains mostly unchanged
India - population policy 1952 - first LIC
- sterilisation 1970s
- abortion legalised in 1972
- minimum age for marriage increased to 18 for females and 21 for
males in 1978
- birth rates then fell rapidly
Some countries may also see fertility as too low - especially HICs --->
concerns regarding:
- the socioeconomic implications of population ageing
- the decrease in the supply of labour
- long-term prospect of population decline
Russia:
- population has dropped since 1991 - fall of the USSR
- Alcoholism, AIDS, pollution and poverty ---> reduced life
expectancy + birth rates
- government has urged families to have more children - “public
duty”
, CASE STUDY: Managing natural increase in China
China - population of more than 1.3 billion people
- operating the world's strictest family planning program since 1979
- one-child policy: drastically reduced population growth
- adverse consequences:
● premature demographic ageing
● unbalanced sex ratio
● generation of `spoiled´ only children
● social divide - wealthy couples can bypass the law
- the policy has successfully prevented around 300 million births
- even though China is the 3rd largest country in the world in terms
of land area, only 10% of the land can be used as arable land
● most of the fertile land is in the East and the South ---> the
areas with the highest population densities
Chinese philosopher Confucius:
- excessive population growth decreases output per worker + decreased
the general quality of life
- argued that any deviation from the optimum population (perfect balance
between land and population) would result in poverty
- believed that the government should displace population to areas
which are underpopulated when overpopulation in the cities occurs -
when optimum population isn't achieved
influencing population size, growth and decline, distribution or
composition.
- pro-natalist: promote large families
- anti-natalist: encourage limitation of births
- they may also encourage immigration to increase population size
- may also try to change the distribution of the population over a
geographical area - in-migration or displacement
- may be controversial - narrow a populations capacity to choose
even though some nations have expressed their opinion in regards to
population control/distribution, they may have not enforced a population
policy, thus the structure remains mostly unchanged
India - population policy 1952 - first LIC
- sterilisation 1970s
- abortion legalised in 1972
- minimum age for marriage increased to 18 for females and 21 for
males in 1978
- birth rates then fell rapidly
Some countries may also see fertility as too low - especially HICs --->
concerns regarding:
- the socioeconomic implications of population ageing
- the decrease in the supply of labour
- long-term prospect of population decline
Russia:
- population has dropped since 1991 - fall of the USSR
- Alcoholism, AIDS, pollution and poverty ---> reduced life
expectancy + birth rates
- government has urged families to have more children - “public
duty”
, CASE STUDY: Managing natural increase in China
China - population of more than 1.3 billion people
- operating the world's strictest family planning program since 1979
- one-child policy: drastically reduced population growth
- adverse consequences:
● premature demographic ageing
● unbalanced sex ratio
● generation of `spoiled´ only children
● social divide - wealthy couples can bypass the law
- the policy has successfully prevented around 300 million births
- even though China is the 3rd largest country in the world in terms
of land area, only 10% of the land can be used as arable land
● most of the fertile land is in the East and the South ---> the
areas with the highest population densities
Chinese philosopher Confucius:
- excessive population growth decreases output per worker + decreased
the general quality of life
- argued that any deviation from the optimum population (perfect balance
between land and population) would result in poverty
- believed that the government should displace population to areas
which are underpopulated when overpopulation in the cities occurs -
when optimum population isn't achieved
