Specific Population Issues in China, India, and Japan - Assignment Example

? Asian Population Word Count: 1330 Words Asian Population Introduction Just looking around and observing the world, it is evident that population issues abound. While some countries are aging and the younger generation is struggling to support them, other countries are experiencing exponential growth that is seemingly out of control. In countries that have overpopulation, governments are often forced to implement measures to slow down the growth. In other countries that are beginning to suffer from under population, the opposite is taking place. Governments are grappling with programs designed to encourage adults to have more children and to strengthen the institution of family. Some of these programs have shown great success, while others have not. The purpose of this paper is to examine specific population issues in China, India, and Japan and to determine what practices are currently working, and what still remains to be done. China China is now well over a population of 1.4 billion people and it continues to grow. This amounts to a staggering figure of twenty percent of the global population. Because of this China, is now facing serious social and economic problems as a result of this burgeoning population. Population strain has lead to a depletion of land and natural resources, caused severe pollution problems, and had lead to deplorable living conditions amongst the poorest of the Chinese people (Qu, Cui, Yan, Peng, & Zhang, 2011, p. 2077). One can say, however, that the Chinese government saw these problems coming and have worked feverishly to do something about it. In 1979, China implemented the famous one-child policy. Beyond one child, families would be taxed up to 50% of their income or possibly lose their employment, making it unlikely that many would violate the policy. In the end, families who agreed to have only one child would receive certain benefits. Women who got pregnant without authorization or by accident were encouraged to terminate their pregnancy. The result of this program has been mixed. Fearing punishment, many government official falsified population reports, leading to estimates that the number of births reported in China may be off by as many as twenty-seven percent. In the end, population growth has slowed somewhat, but at great costs. There have been political consequences, as many Western countries have criticized China for the policy, particularly their views on birth control and the rampant termination of pregnancies. China has, however, seen tremendous economic growth in recent years, but many fear that there will soon be an imbalance of males and females in the country. This is a result of many Chinese families working to have a male as their only child, causing an imbalance in the ratio of males to females (Fischer, Winiwarter, Cao, & Ermolieva, 2012, p. 246). If this continues, there will be a reversal in population growth as time goes on, making it difficult for the younger generation to support a growing and sizeable elderly population. India Like China, overpopulation in India a serious concern and one that needs to be addressed. Unlike China, however, India has been able to do little to reverse the trend. India still has the majority of its population living in abject poverty. Add to this the fact that India has not progressed much in the way of feminine rights in recent decades, and one can easily see why the population has gotten out of control (Bloom, et. al., 2010, p. 18). The government has attempted through the years to reduce population growth, but most have not succeeded to any great extent. The ironic part of this problem is that India has sufficient land size and a lot of agricultural potential to support the over one billion that live there. The reality is, however, that the resources are not equally distributed and that a majority of the people of India is not having their basic needs being met. Indian, being faced with the reality that they simply cannot handle the population growth that is occurring, has attempted to implement various programs to lower the population of the country. No matter how effective a government is, they simply cannot manage and take care of over 500 million people who need assistance. India has also implemented programs where they decrease benefits to a family that has more than one child. This, in effect, resulted in discrimination against female children, as it is more desirable to have male children (Sridhar, 2010, p. 25). This has resulted in such social problems as food being held back from girls, and a lack of educational and heath services for females as well. In addition, there are a highly disproportionate number of female fetuses being aborted in India than males. In India, the reality is that many have religious objections to population control. Families in poverty also appear oblivious to the effects of large families and, out of either ignorance or desperation, continue to have children. The government has recently considered using the injection of birth-control, which has resulted in new criticism. The reality is that few population control programs in India have worked to this point. Japan Japan has been experiencing the opposite problem that is facing China and India. For some time now, Japanese women have been marrying later and many are reluctant to have more than one child, while others desire to be childless. This has resulted in a birth rate in Japan that is hovering 1.34. Population experts agree that a birth rate of 2.0 is needed to sustain the population of a country, meaning that Japan falls far below the number of new births needed to take care of a growing elderly population (Sahoo, 2011, p. 263). Current estimates pain the dire picture that by the 2050, if current trends do not reverse, more than 40 percent of the population in Japan will be 65 years of age and older (Sahoo, 2011, p. 263). With Japanese people being fortunate to have one of the long life spans of any people group on earth, this is particularly troubling, as it is not uncommon for healthy Japanese people to live well into their 90’s, putting a great strain on an already depleted social services system. There are many factors contributing this phenomenon in Japan. The cost of living in the country is one of the highest in the world, and the Japanese work ethic is equally as fierce. Combining those two together, and many Japanese hesitate to put the expense and effort into raising more than one child, if even that. Also, abortion is prevalent, so if a women does become pregnant and the pregnancy is unwanted, an abortion will likely be the solution. Birth control is also widely used, keeping the rate of pregnancy inside the country as one of the lowest in the world (Sahoo, 2011, 264). Add to this the fact that, as mentioned, that the population continues to age in Japan, and it can be stated that something needs to be done to increase the population of Japan. Conclusion As health care advances continue to be made, the countries of the world must continue to rely on young people to care for the elderly amongst us. Some countries, such as China and India, are simply growing too rapidly to accommodate everyone. There are limited resources, jobs, and benefits that can be distributed. With an increase in population, like that in China and India, class struggles will continue to be a problem until the respective governments can get a handle on the situation. Other countries, such as Japan, are quickly running out of options to increase their already low rate of population growth. Due to a high cost of living, in addition to other social factors, couples are simply not willing to have the number of children that will be required to sustain the population that have fueled the economy. The government will quickly run out of options and resources to take care of the elderly, and the labor force will grow increasingly strained. There are no easy answers to either of these issues, under or over population, but it has been demonstrated that the issues are serious and should begin to be dealt with as such. References Bloom, D., Canning, D., Hu, L., Liu, Y., Mahal, A., & Yip, W. (2010). The contribution of population health and demographic change to economic growth in China and India. Journal of Comparative Economics, 38(1), 17-33. Fischer, G., Winiwarter, W., Cai, G., & Ermolieva, T. (2012). Implications of population growth and urbanization on agricultural risks in China. Population and Environment, 33(2), 243-258. Qu, J., Cui, Y., Yang, A., Peng, Y., & Zhang, H. (2011). The study for the prediction model of China population growth. Journal of Computers, 6(1), 2076-2083. Sahoo, H. (2011). Population decline and ageing in Japan – The social consequences. Asian Journal of Social Science, 39(2), 263-264. Sridhar, K. (2010). Determinants of city growth and output in India. Review of Urban & Regional Development Studies, 2291), 22-38. Read More