For China, evidence would indicate that its population size, structure and distribution are currently unsustainable in terms of it's medium/long term development. In geographical terms, they are experiencing regional over-population."

The Chinese government introduced the family planning since the late 1970s to control the population growth of China. As a result, the birth rate decreases and leads to an increase in the life expectancy to 71.4 years. However, this leads to the problem of ageing population. In 1990, the population pyramid indicates that there are high birth rate and death rate because the population of children are the highest and the population of elderlys are the lowest. By looking at the current population pyramid of China, it shows the increase in population of the working class. The birth rates decreases and so as the death rates. The problem of ageing population began. This problem is expected to become more serious in the near future. In 2050, the ageing population problem will be shown clearly in the population pyramid of China in the year of 2050. The death rate declined a lot and the population of the elderly is the highest. The population of workling class is not able to support the high population of old people. More resources are required, such as nursing and homes for the old people. Therefore, the population structure of China will not be able to support the further development.

Having such a large but unevenly distributed and aging population, China is unsustainable in terms of medium or long term development. For instance, the population in Guandong Province, the fourth populous province of China, is unsustainable for the current issue, which indicates that it is experiencing the problem of over-population.

Table 1: List of top fourth Chinese province by population size

Guangdong Province is on the south coast of China with a population density of 447 km², which is the ninth highest province in China. It is same as the population density of Tuvalu, which is the 14th highest population density country. Guangdong Province is highly populated. According to the recently released information, an additional 30 million immigrants reside in Guangdong for at least six months each year. This floating population, which refers to those who are not entitled to be registered as permanent residents in accordance with current laws and regulations, increases the population in Guangdong to around 110 million, making Guangdong the most populous province in China.

Water is a necessity of surviving for human beings therefore water pollution in Guangdong that leads to shortage of water is a serious issue. In Guangdong, Governor Lu Ruihua admitted that water quality problem is still basically “unsolved.” In 1999, around 6 billion tons of wastes went into the sea along the Pearl River Delta. Only less than 40 % of 19 regional rivers flowing through the cities have reached the central government water quality standards. Household sewage has played a significant role in contaminating the water. This is a serious issue to Guangdong because it is one of the worst offenders.

Guangdong Province is unsustainable which leads to such issue. As the population increase in Guangdong, more amount of household sewage went into the river and caused such a serious problem. Water pollution can affect the future generation as well because bad quality of water can cause disease. Water pollution will lead to shortage of water. Lack of water is the most serious problem. Human cannot survive without water. A possible solution to this issue will be having a better control of pollution in the rivers to improve the drinking water quality.

In conclusion, places like China, having a large but unevenly distributed and ageing population, is experiencing regional over-populated. This is illustrated in the case study of Guangdong Province. Guangdong Province is densely populated and experiencing over-population. This leads to the problem of water pollution in Guangdong. Opportunities of improving this issue are to have a better control of the pollution to the river. Therefore, a large, unevenly distributed population arises opportunities and constraints.

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Bibliography

Websites

1. “Guangdong Environment: Some Progress, But Many Problems Remain.” 4 Dec. 2005,

2. “Guangdong” 22 Nov. 2005. Wikipedia 4 Dec. 2005

     

3. “China Profile: Population Pyramid” 2003. Nation Master. 4 Dec. 2005.

4. “ Gridded Population of the World”. 2005. SEDAC. 4 Dec 2005.

Map of China:

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