Overpopulation Solutions

China: China had implemented a one child policy in 1979. This meant that each couple having a child could only have one. The policy was effective in limiting the population. The birth rate in China dropped to 1.9 children per mother (this rate would've eventually lead to population decrease). However, there were some unintended consequences to this policy. One issue was the distorted male:female ratio that occured. The baseline ratio for males to females is 103:100 or 107:100. China's ratio rose to 117:100 most likely due to abortions occurring if the sex of the child is known antenatally. The One Child policy also lead to an issue that became known as the 4-2-1 problem. This problem basically means that there are way more old people than young people. Which causes a problem for the young people as they have to support the elders through taxes and could very well end up contributing more money they will receive later on in life. So, while the one-child policy did achieve the initial goal of population control it had some side effects that China is still trying to get rid of.

India: India has been trying to implement a two-child policy on a national level. There is some apprehension because of what happened with China. However, some states have passed laws that encourage this restriction. On the state level, the restriction mainly applies to politicians. If a politician doesn't follow the rule he/she can be disqualified from the election. The hope is that people will follow their example, but as some extra incentive some states have passed stricter laws that apply to the general population. If a family doesn't adhere to the policy: the third and above child/children will be denied government rights, women pregnant with their third child or higher will be denied health care and nutritional supplements, fathers could recieve jail time and fines, restrictions could be placed on their appointment and promotion in government positions, and large families receive a decrease in social services.

This policy would lead to a severe negative population growth in india which would lead to the same 4-2-1 problem they are facing in China. This is one of the reasons people in India are reluctant to implement this as a nationwide policy. It would cause some of the problems happening in China to happen in India as well. Both of these policies are/were kind of drastic in nature and would/did have a huge effect on birth rates. Both cause economic issues as well. However, one also needs to compare the cultures of both of these places to discover other possible side effects if India were to implement this policy. The distortion of the ratio of males to females in China could be attributed to China's society placing more importance on boys in the past. So, for India we'd have to consider their culture and their beliefs to find out other problems that could arise. For example, in India they have a caste system. It is basically a rigid class system. (See picture below) This system has become much less prominent and discrimination based on caste is now banned by the constitution, but it still holds some weight in India. So, one could wonder whether the implementation of this policy could cause issues there. One issue could be people from historically lower castes, who may not have as much money, facing a lot of problems and setbacks in society and progression in society because they can't adhere to the policy due to lack of money and resources. So, this could potentially make it even more difficult for people to rise above their station in life.

An example of less drastic policy implemented to control population is in Kenya. In Kenya, they created a family planning campaign. The policy states that they had to match the population with available resources, but people could decide how big they wanted their family to be. This campaign also involves increasing the use of contraceptives. The idea of the plan is to prevent unintended pregnancies. It should also be noted that in Kenya, 18% of married woman and 23% of teenagers do not want to have kids. So, this plan will probably be effective in limiting the population as amount of contraceptives used goes up, but whether or not it will be enough of a limitation still seems uncertain.

Clearly in order to limit the population, governments need to find smart ways to do it that aren't too drastic (the one child policy) or too lenient. Too drastic a policy that causes too sudden a change can cause problems that take a while to fix (the 4-2-1 problem) and too lenient a problem won't really solve anything. However, finding these solutions is no easy task. There are multiple social, political, and economic factors to consider. For example, the same plan may not work for each country, depending on that countries society and cultural values. Like how in China the importance placed on boys led to distortion of ratios of males to females. However, the one-child policy might work out elsewhere, at least if we look at it from a strictly societal standpoint and don't look at the economic factors. Also different places have different values (like how some cultures believe that having a bigger family is better) so there could be opposition and resistance from people if restrictions regarding population are created. As we saw before, economic issues could arise in things like the 4-2-1 problem if the policy is a rather drastic one. Also, in some cases, instituting policies could be expensive. For example, making sure that everyone has birth control, could cost the government a good amount of money. And lastly, from a political standpoint, the limiting of populations and how that would take place could cause even more political rifts in countries and spark a lot of debate like it already has in India.