Population Control Measures
Direct Measures
• Direct Measures include various types of
family planning measures and method, such
as Birth control/contraception and various
family planning techniques.
• These methods lower the birth rate.
Indirect Measures
• There is the belief that nature can limit or
control man’s population.
• Natural Disasters, Disease and Famine can all
kill thousands of people, sometimes in one
event.
Population Policy:
Pro-natalist and anti-natalist policies.
• Theoretically, couples should have 2 children in order
to reach the REPLACEMENT LEVEL. However, fertility
has declined…. Why?
1. Women are having less children overall due to their
desire to be career minded.
2. No need to have large numbers of children anymore.
3. Children on the whole are expensive.
• Consequently, some countries are having to
adopt a PRO-NATALIST stance: i.e.
encouraging births.
• Other countries have experienced great social
upheaval due to the adoption of ANTI-
NATALIST policies i.e. discouraging births.
Pro-Natalist
• One who encourages
childbearing, either out of some
practical or religious belief that
human populations were
designed to grow naturally, or
one who believes human
populations should grow nearly
as large as possible, to benefit
nearly as many people as
reasonably possible.
Pro-natalist poster from Singapore
Other Countries with pro-natalist policies…
• Australia
• France
• Italy
• Poland
• Japan
• Singapore
Anti-natalism
• Opposite to pro-natalism
• This policy is concerned
with limiting population
growth.
• This approach has been
adopted in countries
such as China
Contraception
• Contraception is promoted in many countries.
• The aim is to prevent pregnancies.
Case Study: China
• China had an extremely high birth rate during
the 1950s. This was in response to the STATE
POLICY that ‘a large population gives a strong
nation’.
• Then came a disastrous famine between 1958
– 1961. MILLIONS of Chinese died.
• State family planning programmes were
introduced in the 1970s and the average
family had 3 children on average. This TFR was
still considered too high.
• In 1979, the One Child Policy was introduced
to achieve a total fertility rate of 1.0.
INCENTIVES
• Free education
• Priority state housing
• ? Family benefits ?
• Under certain conditions will a couple be
allowed to have another child…but you must
still get permission to do so!
Penalties
• Those who do not comply are penalized. Those
who DO NOT comply are subjected to FORCED
abortions and women are sterilized (often
against their will!).
• If a family had a 2nd child without state
permission to do so, ALL benefits were
stripped.
• Couples are subjected to severe fines.
Impacts
• The overall birth rate has significantly dropped
and couples are realizing the economic savings
of having only 1 child!
Problems
• With more elders living to old age, there is
now a dependency problem. Who is going to
financially support senior citizens?
• There is the fear that couples with 1 child, may
over indulge them…they will grow up spoiled
(Little Emperors).
• There is still the preference for BOYS and this has
led to several problems:
1. The abortion of female children had become
common, so that male : female sex ratios at birth
had become grotesquely imbalanced. Female
infanticide and the abandonment of girl babies is
very common.
2. As less girls are born, there WILL be unforeseen
problems such as the lack of potential wives…
what will happen to the family structure?
