The TFR [Total Fertility Rate] never fell below a 2.5 child-per woman average in rural areas, although it dropped to about 1.2 in urban areas. By the mid-1980s, less than one-fifth of all eligible married couples had signed the one-child certificate -- a contract which granted couples and their child economic and educational advantages in return for promising not to have more than one child. Throughout the 1980s, nearly half of all reported births were second, third, or higher order births. Various surveys suggested that the desire to have at least two children remained strong among Chinese couples. Why did the one-child policy fail? The likely explanation is that there are limits to how far government policies can push demographic changes. Policies emphasizing later marriage and fewer children in the 1970s clearly played a part in lowering total fertility rates. Contraceptive usage in China by the early 1980s, for example, was extraordinarily high for Asia at 71 percent of women of reproductive age. The one-child policy, however, was strongly resisted by people, especially couples living in rural regions. Enforcing the one-child policy in the face of such heavy resistance would have required more forceful measures than the Chinese government was willing to use. This is the source of criticism of China from population advocates such as Garrett Hardin who argued China needs to more strictly enforce the one-child policy.
Finally, the one-child policy and the successful resistance to it should give pause to claims made in Western nations that there are up to 500,000 "missing" girls in China. The usual claim is that the "missing" girl phenomenon is caused by infanticide. In fact a far more likely explanation is that Chinese couples systematically fail to report the birth of girls. Figures on the sex ratios of adoptions bear this out:
Adoptions rose sharply in the 1980s. There were over 500,000 cases in 1987 and about 400,000 per year between 1984 and 1986, compared with fewer than 200,000 before the one-child policy. The extremely low sex ratios of 27 to 36 boys per 100 girls among the adopted children are not surprising; parents traditionally are more likely to give away girls, a practice that intensified under the one-child stipulation. When the adopted children by year of adoption are added to their respective cohort of births, the sex ratio at birth comes closer to normal for the years in question. This reduces the number of missing girls by half. In addition, girls in China, like girls in much of the developing world, receive far less attention and resources than boys. As a result the sex ratio of infant deaths in China averaged 114 over the 1980s.This low ratio suggests that girls receive less care and attention than boys in many Chinese homes, reducing the chance of survival of girls beyond their first birthday. Most importantly, this gender discrimination affects girls most adversely in the poorest areas.
Over the past twenty years, Sweden has experienced first a strong increase and lately a rapid decline in fertility. During the same period, France had a relatively stable fertility level and substantially higher than that of her neighboring countries. At the same time both countries have high female labour force participation and generous family support schemes. This contradicts the New Home Economics theories, according to which the rise in female labour force participation should have reduced fertility rate.
Steps were taken towards constructing a national family policy that aimed at improving the situation for women and helping them to combine work and family life. These steps were largely inspired by Gunnar Myrdal's book on the population crisis, which appeared in 1935.
During the economic depression of the 1930s, Sweden’s unemployment was high and the birth rate very low. Population growth fell to just 0.3%. The prospect of a decline in population made population growth a political issue. Swedish governments tried to reverse the declining population trend by:
• Parental leave on 80% salary for up to
12 months after the birth of a child,
For either parent
• Up to 120 days’ leave to care for sick
Children, on 80% salary
• Adequate provision of heavily
Subsidized day care
• High tax rates of between 30 and
50%, to finance these schemes.
The birth rate started to rise again after the mid-1930s. In fact the fertility increase started before any of the ideas promoted by the Myrdals were put into practice. In the mid-1940s fertility reached 2.6 children per woman compared to the low point of 1.7 in 1935. Fertility increased over the subsequent decade and remained at 2.2 to 2.5 until the mid-1960s.
After the introduction of modern contraceptives in the mid-1960s fertility started to decline, much in line with similar developments in other countries. By the end of the 1970s the birth rate in Sweden had declined to a level of 1.6 children per woman, but then the pattern reversed. It started to rise rapidly in an almost unique development which attracted attention, not least abroad. In 1990, the birth rate reached a level of 2.1, which was one of the highest in the whole of Western Europe. However the Changes in fertility and mortality led to a shift in the age structure of the population. The proportion of children has declined and that of the elderly population has increased.
In terms of Governments attempts to control the distribution of people I have studied South Africa and Brittan.
South Africa is located at the southern end of the African Continent. It is bound by the Namibia to the northwest, Botswana to the north, Zimbabwe, Mozambique and Swaziland to the northeast, the Indian Ocean to the east and southeast and the Atlantic Ocean to the southwest and west. The first inhabitants of the area were the san (bushman) people and the Khoi-Khoin people. However, the majority of South Africans black people are descended from Bantu-speakers who migrated into the area many centuries ago. The white population (know as the Afrikaner) are descended from Dutch, German, French, British and Belgian immigrants since 1652. The coloured people are descended from mixed relations among the European settlers, indigenous people and people from Madagascar, India, Indonesia and Malaysia. The Asian population arrived after 1860 and came mainly from India. A policy of segregation between black and white originated in the first Dutch settlement, the Cape, in 1652. This practice became customary, and was established legally as apartheid by the first national party government in 1948 when some Afrikaners in the party united to protect their language, culture and heritage from a perceived threat by the black majority and to assert their economic and political independence from British colonial domination. Further acts made mixed marriages illegal, and prescribed segregation in public places such as restaurants, transport, schools, places of entertainment and political parties. The group areas act stipulated where and with whom people could live; and the black authorities act established black homelands. The end result and outcome of this legislation was the unequal division of rights and resources. This included the disproportionate division of land, the unequal distribution of funding for education and the general denial of constitutional rights for the majority of South Africans.
The population of Britain is at present nearing 60 million people, a figure which shows a substantial increase from the 1991 census statistic of approximately 55 million.
The table below gives an estimated breakdown of the GB population in terms of countries and English regions.
The ethnic minority populations are not evenly distributed around Great Britain, but tend to be highly concentrated in the more urbanised parts of the country. Their geographical distribution is very different from that of the White population.
- Nearly half of all people in Great Britain of ethnic minority live in Greater London, compared with less than one in ten of the White population.
- People of ethnic minority origin are much less likely than white people to live in Wales, Scotland and the North east and South west regions of England.
The three South Asian ethnic groups - Indian, Pakistani and Bangladeshi - show marked differences in their areas of residence. Almost half of all Bangladeshis and over 40 per cent of all Indians live in Greater London. Of the Indians who live in Greater London, only one in six live in Inner London. This contrasts with the Bangladeshi population, where four out of five of the Greater London residents live in Inner London. The concentration of ethnic minority groups in particular areas has been explained in terms of 'choice' and 'constraint' theories. The choice theory argues that ethnic minorities may prefer to live within concentrations of their own group for reasons of social support and shared linguistic, cultural and religious traditions. The constraint theory argues that that minority groups have often been prevented from moving outside certain geographical areas by their economic position, by lack of information about housing opportunities elsewhere, and by discrimination or fear of discrimination. The different profiles of skills and experience found in different ethnic groups led the early migrants to seek employment in certain industries. The tendency of Pakistanis, for example, to settle in particular Northern and West Midland conurbations was related to the seeking out of employment opportunities within the textile and heavy engineering industries
The problem of changing population patterns has never been so large as today. The UN is very concerned about the situation in developing countries, and are encouraging governments to take action in the world conferences. However, this problem ultimately stems from money; in the third world children are valuable sources of labour, so consequently they have large families. In developed nations children are expensive, so consequently it is becoming unpopular to have a family. This is a rare problem which is very hard to address, as a great deal of resources would be required.