Curbing Overpopulation in China

1. Location

Overpopulation is a global problem, manifesting itself in developing countries like China, but the reality is that the whole world is overpopulated. Looking specifically at China, the issue is national or perhaps regional, but its effects extend globally. Taking up a very large part of the Asian continent, China's land is large and diverse, consisting of 6 major biomes: Alpine, Deciduous Forest, Temperate Grassland, Temperate Forests, Desert and Tropical Forests.

2. Specifics of the problem

Overpopulation is usually resultant of unrestrained population growth as well as improvements in agriculture and health care. For China, the population exploded in the 1960s-70s. By the mid 50s, the government foresaw this population boom and called for family planning, but didn’t take the necessary action. At the time health care was improving, decreasing the infant mortality rate and as a byproduct the population growth rate was increasing. Then in the 60s the government decided that it needed to intervene in family births, but for ten years from 1966-76 people were allowed to marry at a young age. During this time the population increased to around 200 million people. In 1971 the One Child Policy was legislatively enacted. The policy generally exempted ethnic minorities and people residing in rural areas. It also involved lots of incentives to pledge to only have 1 child as well as advocating education about contraceptives, eugenics, and maternal and child care. After over 40 years, in 2013, the One Child Policy was revised in attempt to correct some of the negative side effects of the policy. The new policy allows for couples to have a second child if one of the parents was an only child. This change will likely have a substantial effect on the overall population level as the next generation reaches reproductive age. Since the implementation of the One Child Policy, the population growth rate in China has slowed and despite some subsequent increases, annual population growth has been decreasing until the past 8 years when it has plateaued at 0.5% growth.

    On the whole, the problem started just like all overpopulation begins with unregulated population growth and better healthcare. New technological advancements are also a contributor to overpopulation in developing nations like China because they want to advance as a country. Scientifically, if  any population’s growth is unrestrained, growth will eventually become exponential (J-curve). If this occurs there can be an overshoot, which is when a population exceeds the carrying capacity (K) of the environment. The carrying capacity is the number of people, other living organisms, or crops that a region can support without environmental degradation. In the event that the population exceeds the carrying capacity, there are also issues concerning the dependency ratio, which is the number of non-working individuals compared with the number working individuals in a population. If the dependency ratio is high, as in the case of many developing countries families in poverty stricken areas will decide to have more children who will be put to work in order to meet their needs.

    There are many consequences to overpopulation in China, which holds approximately ¼ of the world’s population. China’s increasing needs for food, resources, land and energy consequently affects the well-being of other nations. For example, China might overfish, leaving less and less fish available for the rest of the world, or they might burn incredible amounts of fossil fuels to provide for their energy needs, increasing the quantity of CO2 in the atmosphere, exacerbating the issue of global warming. In addition, with an increase in population, China’s food and water resources are becoming even more scarce. This situation is worsened by China’s elevation of dietary preferences from rice-based to meat and dairy-based because it takes more energy/resources to produce animal-based food products. Other problems include land degradation, resultant of  turning rural areas into Urban areas to accommodate a larger population, as well as deforestation since trees are being cut off to create buildings.

3. Larger consequences of the problem

The reality is that the world is overpopulated and despite an overall decrease in birth rate, global population is still exponentially increasing. India, second largest country with respect to population, was home to over 1.2 billion people in 2011. Even though India houses less people than China, India covers less land, resulting in 17% of the world’s population occupying 2.5% of the earth. India has made more attempts to decrease its escalating population, without implementing a policy that regulates the number of children that each couple can have. The United States comes in at number 3 in the highest population count and with a higher standard of living and thus a higher level of consumption than either China or India, the US arguably poses a greater environmental threat than either of these countries alone.

    The overall, global consequences to overpopulation in China are far-reaching. They include the loss of freshwater, increased habitat loss which leads to species extinction, lower life expectancy in the fastest growing countries, increased emergence of new epidemics and pandemics, depletion of natural resources, less freedom, more restrictions, more intensive farming practices (which in turn causes a whole number of problems), increased global warming and climate change, and elevated crime rate.

4. Solutions

The biggest solution that China implemented is the One Child Policy. The policy was both effective and ineffective. Many people initially were not on board with the policy for several reasons. First of all being that traditionally the son inherits the property, carries on the family name, supports the family, and cares for the elders, while daughters get nothing. Having many children increases the likelihood of getting a son. Also in Chinese culture, children are expected to be selfless and serve the group, not individual needs and parents to-be thought that these values would be difficult to teach only children, although studies done in China have shown that only children have better intellectual development, are healthier, and have broader interest than kids with siblings. Other issues with the policy include the fact that when the elderly (non-working) population becomes greater than the youths (those able to work), there become problems with being able to support the elderly. This is attempted to be rectified with the adjustments made to the policy in 2013.

Culturally, it is not acceptable to talk openly about sex, so some proposed solutions include providing access to family planning and birth control, giving education about the causes and effects of overpopulation, as well as changing social norms to make it okay to talk about sex. Some researchers have done successful experiments in Shanghai with sex education for teenagers, while this is promising, it should be implemented throughout the entire country. Most importantly, females should be empowered, first so that women have worth regardless of how many children they have and second so that baby girls won’t be aborted in favor of a boy, causing a gender gap, which is prevalent in countries like China.

5. Conclusion

Unfortunately, overpopulation will likely never be solved. Even if right now everyone in China only gave birth at the replacement rate, approximately 2.1 births for every couple, China would still be overpopulated. When the birth rate decreases below the replacement rate, other problems start to occur. On the other hand, measures like sex education can help people make healthy decisions that they want and ultimately lead to a gradual decrease in population. Ultimately, there is a chance that China could be less over populated than it is right now, but in order for it to work, there must be careful planning and many decades if not centuries.

References:

Berg, Linda R., Mary Catherine. Hager, and David M. Hassenzahl. "Human Population Change and the Environment." Visualizing Environmental Science. Hoboken, NJ: Wiley, 2014. 158-89. Print.

"China Population (LIVE)." Population of China (2015). Worldometers, n.d. Web. 26 Feb. 2015. 

Population Reference Bureau. (2011). Population data sheet 2011. Washington, DC: Population Reference Bureau. http://​www.​prb.​org/​pdf11/​2011population-data-sheet_​eng.​pdf.

Rosenberg, B. G. and Jing, Q. (1996), A Revolution in Family Life: The Political and Social Structural Impact of China's One Child Policy. Journal of Social Issues, 52: 51–69. doi: 10.1111/j.1540-4560.1996.tb01579.x

Vinod, Hrishikesh D. "Newborn Sex Selection and India's Overpopulation Problem." Newborn Sex Selection and India's Overpopulation Problem. Scientific Research, 6 Jan. 2013. Web. 05 Mar. 2015.