Control Population Growth Research Articles

Performance of Population Policies in China and India

China and India are two countries with not only long histories of civilisation but also the largest populations in Asia and the world....Although they have different social systems and have adopted different policies and measures in controlling population growth both have achieved appreciable results which have attracted world attention. This paper is intended to present a comparative analysis of the situation of population growth in both the countries and the effectiveness of their policies in this respect. (EXCERPT)

Who signs China's one-child certificate, and why?

China's policy of one child per family was put in place in 1979 to control population growth in the world's most populous nation. Who complies with the policy, and why? What guidance does economic theory provide? Using microdata available from the 1985 Chinese In-Depth Fertility Survey, a multinomial logit model of family choice with respect to policy compliance is estimated. The results indicate that even after area of residence is taken into account, woman's education, husband's occupation, marriage duration, presence of a son, family structure, and house size significantly influence compliance, while age, child mortality experience, husband's education and woman's occupation apparently do not. The effects of income and wealth remain open questions. Possible explanations are provided.

Open Letter of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China to the General Membership of the Communist Party and the Membership of the Chinese Communist Youth League on the Problem of Controlling Population Growth in Our Country (September 25, 1980)

Open Letter of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China to the General Membership of the Communist Party and the Membership of the Chinese Communist Youth League on the Problem of Controlling Population Growth in Our Country (September 25, 1980)

Report on the Conditions Regarding the Work of Family Planning (March 22, 1984)

Abstract To the Secretariat of the Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party: We hereby submit our report on various problems related to the work of family planning, as follows: Since the Third Plenum of the CCP Eleventh Central Committee was held, the work of controlling population growth has been carried out and accomplished with relatively good results, and much achievement has been made. In comparison with the eight years from 1971 to 1978, in which the average per annum births was 21.66 million, the figure was reduced to 19.03 million in the five years from 1979 to 1983. The rate of natural population growth, therefore, has been reduced from 18.71 per thousand to 13.28 per thousand. Furthermore, it is estimated that the number of births in 1983 could be more than 2 million less than the more than 21 million of 1982, and the natural growth rate could drop from 14.49 per thousand to less than 13 per thousand between those two years.

Socioeconomic Differentials in Contraceptive Use and Desire for More Children In Greater Freetown, Sierra Leone

The level of contraceptive use socioeconomic differentials in the level of use and the sources for contraception in Freetown Sierra Leone were examined. Despite having established the National Population Commission in 1974 Sierra Leone has not initiated a large-scale national family planning program designed to control population growth. In the absence of such a program the Planned Parenthood Association (PPA) of Sierra Leone has served as the main distributor of contraception. A household survey of 1841 women aged 12-49 who had at least 1 child younger than 5 was conducted. An overall contraceptive prevalence rate of 17% was found. The method most commonly used was the pill (62%) followed by the IUD (19%) and injectables (12%). Of the women interviewed 64% expressed desire for more children. Multiple regression analysis was used to estimate the effects of parity age education modern items owned and Islamic affiliation on the level of contraceptive use and desire for more children. The results revealed a positive correlation between contraceptive use and age and education and a negative correlation between contraceptive use and Islamic affiliation. Desire for more children however was negatively associated with age and parity and positively associated with Islamic religious affiliation. Significant differences were also found in contraceptive use and desire for more children among the different tribal groups. Among the women using contraception 50% of them obtained their supplies from the PPA 28% from a hospital or health center and 7% from a private store.

Health and the environment. Population: more than a numbers game.

World population reached 5 billion on July 11 1987. Current UNFPA projections predict world population stabilization at 10 billion by 2050. However the current population is already exerting a tremendous amount of pressure on the carrying capacity of the planet. Ozone depletion global warming and acid rain are all the result of human activity at a level of half the current projection. World food production stabilized in 1988 and fell 5% in both 1987 and 1988. In both those years world population grew 3.6% annually. Every year 14 million tons of grain production are lost to soil erosion irrigation damage poor land management air pollution flooding acid rain and increased ultraviolet radiation. Controlling population growth is not an easy task because of the complexities involved. Increasing female literacy and reducing infant mortality rates are very powerful means of controlling growth. China has served as the best example by reducing its growth rate from 4.75 in the early 70s to 2.36 in just 10 years. They accomplished this in a homogeneous society by making population control a civic duty. They provided rewards for small families and penalties for large ones. Family planning need is still very high although it ranges from 12% in the Ivory Coast to 77% in the Republic of Korea. The UNFPA goal is to make family planning available to 59% os the world is couples by 2000. To do this an additional US$9 billion needs to be spent which is a tiny fraction of total development aid to the 3rd world. In 1990 .9% of the total amount of development aid went to population and family planning programs.

Sterilization and its behavioral effects on free‐ranging female rhesus monkeys (Macaca mulatta)

In order to control population growth rates, a decision was made to sterilize most of the free-ranging, wild rhesus macaque females of Silver Springs, Florida. Between October 1987 and March 1988, the five females who had been sterilized and released in the fall of 1986 were matched with five intact females in a behavioral study. While there were differences between the behaviors of the sterilized and intact females, the differences can be attributed more to differences in age, rank, and other factors than to the sterilization. Clinical data collected and reported on the monkeys is unremarkable.

High Fertility in Sub-Saharan Africa

The persistence of high fertility in sub-Saharan Africa while all other world regions have been able to control population growth represents a grave threat. Tradtional explanations for this phenomenon--e.g. lower levels of income education health and urbanization--are not adequate given the fact that many Asian countries have been able to reduce fertility in the face of the same obstacles. It is suggested instead that the primary cause of sub-Saharan Africas high fertility can be found in its social and family patterns. Central cultural precepts include the notions that many descendents must be produced to ensure the survival of lineage the equation of female virtue with the production of a large number of children the stronger influence of the lineage than the nuclear family and a belief in the power of ancestral spirits. Given the overriding importance of lineage and the relative weakness of emotional and economic conjugal links the factors believed to be producing lowered birth rates in other developed countries (e.g. the high costs of child raising and the negative impact of large family size on the standard of living in that family) are not operable in sub-Saharan Africa. Most African fathers receive far more from their children in terms of loyalty and support than they expend on them giving them little motivation to restrict fertility. Womens growing determination to extend their current economic independence into the domain of reproduction represents the most likely source of change in sub-Saharan Africas fertility patterns. Also essential is reduced infant and child mortality through integrated health services-family planning programs. Progress can be expected to be slow however given the persistence of the African traditional social structure and belief system.

Ratna Ghosh and Mathew Zachariah (eds) Education and the Process of Change. New Delhi: Sage Publications India Pvt. Ltd. 1987.301 pp. Price Rs 190.00 (Hardbound Edition).

Is formal education in India a sort of indoctrination by economic and political elites to perpetuate their dominance over the common people? Does the Indian system of education at all levels really promote economic growth? What social classes benefit from public education? What role does education play in cultural revitalization, social mobility, and social progress? Does education help in reducing the fertility rates to control popUlation growth? What is the role of education in eliminating child labour and in liberating the oppressed female and rural populations from ignorance, misery, and poverty? These are some of the major questions which comprise the subject-matter of the fourteen articles of this important book. These papers were presented by eminent Indian scholars at a conference on "Education and Social Change in India: Reinterpretations and New Directions", held at McGill University, Montreal (Canada) in June 1985, and published later in Delhi.

Geography, Technology, and War: Studies in the Maritime History of the Mediterranean, 649–1571 by John H. Pryor

TECHNOLOGY AND CULTURE Book Reviews 183 Swartz, the nutritionist; Henry A. Wallace, the developer of hybrid corn; Norman Borlaug, who fathered the Green Revolution; and James Watson and Francis Crick, whose discoveries made genetic engineering a new, revolutionary tool in increasing agricultural production. Food economist Theodore W. Schultz and soil conserva­ tionist Hugh Hammond Bennett are also included. Food aid (the term the author uses for distribution) leaders range from Joseph Smith, founder of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, to Madame Wang Shun Ying, official of a Chinese commune, and include political leaders Herbert Hoover and Hubert Humphrey. Food aid, essential in preventing famines when natural disaster strikes, is now, with the tremendous productivity of agricul­ ture, more possible than ever before in history. Finally, Paarlberg devotes a section to leaders of family planning in the United States, India, China, and Taiwan. He points out that medical advances permit many more children to survive; at the same time, the overall death rate has been sharply reduced. In 1950, the death rate in Third World countries averaged twenty-six per thou­ sand; by 1982 it was about eleven. As the author poses the problem: “If we interfere massively in the processes associated with death we are compelled to interfere also in matters related to birth” (p. 22). But the effort to control population growth has not succeeded to the same extent as the efforts to increase agricultural production and produc­ tivity. The technology for family planning is available; the difficulty is in persuading people to use it. An underlying theme of technology and the application of technol­ ogy runs through the volume. Much of the work is based on Paarlberg’s involvement with the people he discusses as he carried out his own work in ending hunger. However, he lists references for additional reading about each of his famine fighters. This interesting and well-written book, although not definitive in any sense of the word, shows how individual efforts can influence tfie world food supply. It is a good introduction to the history of hunger in the world. Wayne D. Rasmussen Dr. Rasmussen, retired as historian of the Department of Agriculture, is secretarytreasurer of the Agricultural History Society. He recently published a volume on the Cooperative Extension Service and is at work on histories of the Agricultural Cooper­ ative Service and the Beltsville Agricultural Research Center. Geography, Technology, and War: Studies in the Maritime History of the Mediterranean, 649—1571. By John H. Pryor. New York: Cambridge University Press, 1988. Pp. xviii + 238; figures, notes, bibliography, index. $39.50. John Pryor, senior lecturer in history at the University of Sydney and author of two (among others) important technologically oriented 184 Book Reviews TECHNOLOGY AND CULTURE articles in The Mariner’s Mirror (1982, 1984) dealing with the construc­ tion of Crusader ships, takes the whole of the medieval Mediterra­ nean as the subject of the study under review here. Pryor is enabled to treat such a vast topic in less than 250 pages of text and notes by his controlling assumptions. He argues with considerable persuasiveness both on a general level and in several case studies that the physical realities of the sea, weather, and ship technology in effect created traffic or trunk lanes, and those polities that controlled crucial islands such as the Balearics, Sicily, and Crete (I am oversimplifying here) had success within their grasp. I would quibble here and suggest that such polities had the opportunity for success. The first three chapters—The Sea, The Ships, and Navigation—are the most important and will likely be of the greatest interest to most medievalists and especially to the readers of Technology and Culture. The case studies dealing with Islam, Byzantium, and the West in the 9th and 10th centuries, the Crusader states in the 12th and 13th centuries, maritime traffic, the Turks, and a very short epilogue on the Barbary corsairs are all highly problematical, as Pryor recognizes. It is to his credit that he takes stands on controversial matters that are usually both reasonable and well researched, even if not based largely on his own archival work or original Greek and Arabic sources to which...

On Human Fertility: Individual or Group Benefit?

This article discusses the reproductive strategies of individuals in an attempt to determine whether they are designed to maintain an optimum population for the group or to insure reproductive success for the offspring. Some scholars have argued that aspects of social behavior from male display and dominance hierarchies to territoriality were mechanisms to control population growth and prevent resource depletion. Cultural ecologists in turn built theories of human social systems regulated by practices to limit population growth and deploy groups in time and space for the efficient use of their resources. Informed by anthropological generalizations demographers viewed recent high rates of population growth in the developing countries as the legacy of colonial interruptions of traditional practices which were assumed to have maintained optimum numbers in the precolonial past. While anthropologists and demographers adpoted the view that traditional peoples usually practice the discipline of optimum numbers this notion of population regulation suffered a very different fate in biology. Biological arguments made it clear that individuals reproductive interests and long-term group or population homeostasis would not always favor the same patterns of behavior.

POTENTIAL EFFECTS OF THE ONE-CHILD POLICY ON GENDER EQUALITY IN THE PEOPLE'S REPUBLIC OF CHINA

Notwithstanding the obvious advantages of controlling population growth and the probable problems with old-age security and female infanticide, the one-child program in China could have latent ramifications. It could drastically reduce the size and significance of the patrilineal lineage, promote the popularity of uxorilocal marriage, and encourage women to make nontraditional career choices. The sum of these effects could finally allow China to make major advances in achieving its unrealized goal of eliminating gender-based inequality.

The "New Beginning" in Pakistan's Family Planning Programme

Family planning in Pakistan has a long, interesting, expensive and generally unsuccessful history. Recently, after a pause of several years, vigorous public-sector efforts to control population growth have been resumed. This has been called "the new beginning" by Pakistan officials. This note will relate the details and also the genesis of this recent renewal of family-planning activity. The first "beginning" was the programme launched in 1965 [4]. This programme grew rapidly and attracted considerable attention internationally. By the mid-Seventies it was clear that the programme's impact had been overrated and that it was on the verge of stagnation. Under the strong urging of USAID, the major donor group, a last desperate effort was made using a strongly supply-oriented approach. This so-called "inundation scheme" also proved a failure and by 1977 the programme had virtually come to a halt [5]. The Fifth Five Year Plan (1978- 1983) endorsed population control but called for an integrated health- and family planning approach. A new programme of training, mass education and improved service-delivery was laid out in the Plan, but, in fact, little seems to have been accomplished or even attempted in the' early part of this period. The programme had been discredited and had been all but shut down. But the need remained. Pakistan's fertility was shown by the World Fertility Survey results for 1975-76 to be essentially unchanged in 20 years - a total fertility rate of some 7 births per female over her reproductive career, resulting in an annual growth rate of about 3.0 percent.

Population and development

This article highlights improvements in China's population development, particularly in its family planning programs. China first realized the importance of family planning in 1962. 2 years later, a Family Planning Office was established under the State Council, which was upgraded into a Leading Group in 1973, and population began to be incorporated into national planning. In 1981, the State Family Planning Commission was established as a ministry-level organization directly under the State Council. In 1982, the government further defined its population policy as "controlling population growth and improving population quality.¿ Moreover, in the wake of the International Conference on Population Development in 1994 and the Fourth World Conference on Women in 1995, China has called for reorientations in family planning programs and in social regulations. This article also presents the efforts of the Chinese government to protect the country's environment and the employment of certain measures to facilitate population migration in response to the needs of the migrant population for family planning and health care.

Should one be free to choose the sex of one's child?

ABSTRACT Tests which predict the sex of a fetus have led to female feticide in India, and hence to demands that such tests be banned. This paper examines the arguments for banning such tests. These will depend partly on one's views regarding the morality of feticide: different views are discussed. However the morality of feticide is not the only relevant consideration, especially since it may become possible to choose the sex of the child at conception. Whether or not parents have the right to freedom of choice and information is analysed. Many non‐western societies have special problems since the strong preference for boys may lead to the neglect of female children and to female infanticide. In heavily populated countries like India and China the need to control population growth is an additional complication. The paper concludes that in these societies the case for banning tests is weak.

A disaggregate population model of China

A disaggregate population model of China is presented: the age structure is represented by one-year cohorts; urban and rural populations are distinguished; birth and death rates, family size, life expectancy, and other demographic variables are determined endogenously. The model can be used to analyze population problems and to project population size, the age structure, the adult labor force, the elderly population, and so on. The model can be used in two modes: to project the consequences of various exogenous fertility levels and to determine endogenously birth rates and fertility by economic inputs such as food supply, GDP, and services. Socioeconomic factors important in the demo graphic transition are incorporated into the model, such as the effect of perceived life expectancy on fertility, the effects of tradi tional values, and the ability of government to influence family fertility choices. Policies and programs designed to control population growth, such as delayed marriage age, improved con traception, and restrictions on family size can be evaluated. Required inputs are industrial, service, and food output per worker, and also the level of pollution. The model should be thought of as a component of a comprehensive planning model which generates these inputs endogenously. Based on the system dynamics approach to modeling complex systems, the model is implemented in the DYNAMO simulation language.

Role of female behavior in controlling population growth in mice

Sex ratio does not appear to be a factor in generating the characteristic population growth curve. Freely growing populations of house mice, consisting of all females and one male, stopped their growth at approximately the same densities as normal sexratio populations used as references. The mechanism(s) of female control of population dynamics may be related to female aggressive behavior. As the all-female/one-male populations approached their maximum size, the females began to show wounding patterns and social hierarchies in much the same manner as males in populations with normal sex ratios. The male in each of the populations was severely wounded in the posterior region, and each lost its tail as a result of injuries which could have been inflicted only by the females. The female social hierarchy can be seen only when there has been reproduction and population growth. Assembled populations of all females rarely exhibit aggressive behavior. Female aggression becomes apparent only when the population approaches its maximum size and thereafter. These data are consistent with the hypothesis that males are competitive among themselves for territory and social rank, and ultimately to mate with the females. Other investigators have indicated that females respond to population size, which may reflect increased competition between the females with the establishment of territories. Thus female agression may control population growth, a role previously ascribed to male aggression.

Population dynamics and policy in the People's Republic of China.

This article reviews recent changes in population policy and demographic trends in the People's Republic of China. Recently available estimates of birth and death rates for the last several decades are examined in the context of political events and disruptions in China. China heralds the world's most comprehensive and perhaps most effective birth control program, aimed at stabilizing the Chinese population at 1.2 billion by the turn of the century, and has made remarkable progress in controlling population growth during the last decade. The dramatic fertility decline in recent years is analyzed and compared with the trends in Japan, Korea, and Taiwan. The extent of China's fertility decline is found to be unequaled anywhere in the world. A potential conflict between promotion of agricultural production by individual families through the new responsibility system and the birth control policy is also discussed.

Shift the Focus of Family Planning Work to One Couple Giving Birth to One Child

Sifang County in Sichuan Province is a nationally renowned advanced county for family planning. It has a total population of over 360,000 and 89 percent are engaged in agricultural production. On the average, each peasant cultivates 1.1 mu of land. In 1979 they each earned about 150 yuan in income from the collective. In 1978 the birthrate was down to 8.7 per thousand and mortality rate 6.1 per thousand, thus bringing down the natural population growth rate from 32 per thousand in 1970 to 2.6 per thousand. The planned-birth rate [jihua shengyulu] reached 99.3 percent of all births. The county has entered a new stage of planned population development marked by low rates of birth, mortality, and natural growth. As to whether further control of the population in the future is still necessary, the practice of the previous year shows that in their efforts to further control population growth and in shifting the focus of family planning work, they have again attained gratifying progress and provided precious ex...

An Analysis of the Basic Population Structure of Shanghai Municipality

This paper analyzes the changes in Shanghai's population structure over the last 30 years in the 4 aspects of age structure, sex composition, urban and rural composition, and labor and employment structure. In 1953 those of the 0 to 6 age group accounted for 21.2% of the total population; in 1957 the group represented a proportion of 24.6%. Since the 1960s, especially after the 1970s, the family planning program gradually took effect, and the birthrate of the entire municipality fell drastically. The number of school-age children in 1979 was 1 1/2 times more than the same age group in 1953; there should be no worry that population control may result in a shortage of manpower to meet the needs of the work force and the armed forces either toward the end of this century or at the beginning of the next. The economy in China is underdeveloped, production and technology remain at a low level, average wages for employees are low, and for a long time the low living standard of the people has shown little sign of improvement. The problem is mainly manifest in the following areas: 1) distribution of the work force in heavy and light industries is not sufficiently rational, 2) the distribution of the work force between captial construction and transport and communications on the 1 hand and the national economy on the other is out of proportion, 3) the distribution of the work force between commerce, service trades, and public utilities on the 1 hand and the national economy on the other is disproportionated, and 4) the distribution of the work force between undertakings of culture, education, scientific research, health, and medical care on the 1 hand and economic construction on the other is improper. How to control population growth and adjust parts of the population structure to suit the national economic development poses a problem that calls for further in-depth study and analysis to resolve it step by step.