Give a brief geographical description of China and UK; mention location, and economic status.

The UK’s economy is now experiencing an eighth consecutive year of solid growth, stable inflation and falling unemployment. During 2001 growth will slow as the growth in unemployment begins to fall. The pound will begin to weaken against the Euro. Speculation about the UK’s position on joining the European single currency will continue.
China’s economy will enjoy continued growth, after making an economic recovery in 2000. In 2001 reforms within the Chinese economy will push up unemployment, as state owned enterprises are privatised. As a result the government will be attempting to boost the economy.
The UK is situated in Western Europe; it is between the Irish Sea and the North Sea, northwest of France. The UK has a total land area of 241,590 sq km and a total coastline length of 12,429 km. The terrain of the UK is rugged and low mountains in the west and flat plains in the east and southeast.
China is located in eastern Asia, bordering the East China Sea. China also borders with Korea Bay, Yellow Sea, and South China Sea, between North Korea and Vietnam. China has a total land area of 9,326,410 sq km and a coastline length of 14,500 km. China’s terrain is mainly made of mountains, high plateaus, and deserts in the west, plains, deltas, and hills in the east.

2. Compare the recent population trends of the two countries. Mention patterns in birth and death rates, distribution, life expectancy and other demographic data.

Both China and the UK are different in terms of their economies and their population structure.

The UK is in a period called Stage 4, or this is how it is known to a demographer, it has been in this stage since about 1940. The population variations are said to be low and fluctuating. A ‘baby boom’ following the Second World War has been followed by a steady decline in the number of people giving birth per 1000, and the rate is now just approximately 16 per 1000. The death rate is also at an all time low and is approximately 11 per 1000. This current trend in population change would lead to a possible stage 5. If the UK went into stage 5 then this would mean that the birth rates would be lower than the death rates, and so the population would begin to decrease, and this is known as a natural decrease.
China adopted a certain idea in the 1950s, this idea was that a large population was a strong population and so there was a lot of emphasis on having children. It was at this time that China experienced a population explosion; at the same time death rates were falling due to improved health care and research in this field. China suffered a terrible famine in the late 1950s that led to the deaths of approximately 20 million people. The famine was the result of industrialisation in the country, something that had happened in the UK 100 years earlier. Population in China was growing by 55 million people a year during the 1960s. China’s population currently stands at 1.278bn.
In comparison the population distribution of the 2 countries is probably not what would be expected as China’s population is so large. China’s distribution is 135 people per km squared, whereas the UK’s is 240 people per km squared. This low distribution of people per km is because China is such as vast country, but the UK is not so large.

How have the Chinese governments attempted to address the problems of population growth and how successful has their campaign been?

By 1970 in China the population had reached a staggering 900 million, the growth rate was fluctuating around the 2% point. This small percentage meant that China’s population was increasing by a massive 20 million a year, a third of the UK’s population currently is. The Chinese government felt that the country could not sustain this level of population growth. The government knew that with a growth rate this large the country’s resources would not be able ...

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How have the Chinese governments attempted to address the problems of population growth and how successful has their campaign been?

As well as this aim a further aim was to reduce the population to 700 million by 2010, as this was thought to be an acceptable number of people given the country’s resources.

State family planning was introduced in the 1970s, this was not as effective as it was hoped and the average number of children per family was 3. This figure was thought to be far too high. By 1979 a one child per family was introduced, this was a government policy and was backed up in a number of ways. Benefits and free schooling were available, however, these benefits were cut on the birth of a second child into the family. Fines were also imposed on the families that had a second child; all of their policies put people off having children. Age limits were set on marriages, 22 for men, and 20 for women. By 1980 the growth had fallen from 40 per 1000 in 1968 to 17 per 1000. Later in the 1980s compulsory abortions were introduced if it was the second pregnancy.

Now in China, the target of 1.2 billion people has been exceeded, however the average family size has fallen greatly. Laws have been relaxed slightly, and now those families in rural areas can have more than one child, under certain circumstances.

What policies has the UK adopted?

In the UK there have been indirect policies introduced that have led to changes in population structure and also attempts to change the number of babies being born. In 1908, a liberal government introduced state pensions that were aimed to help older people because so many of them wee dying because they had no money. In 1948 a Labour government introduced a free health care service, provided through tax revenues, this is known as the NHS, or National Health Service. The NHS was designed to help improve the health of the nation and prevent so many people dying. In 1967 a Labour government introduced the Abortion Law that made it legal for females in the UK to have abortions. More recently the morning after pill has become available free of charge over the counter and so people have greater access to a method of terminating pregnancies.

Compare the migration patterns of the UK and China. Outline the major causes and consequences (both economic and social) of such movements.

There are two types of movement, inter regional and international movements, both the UK and China have both, but to different extents and for different reasons.

Since 1950 in China inter regional movements have mainly taken place from the densely populated rural areas to the developing urban areas, people have been leaving agriculture behind as they have opted for new types of industries. However, this type of movement from rural to urban was happening within the UK in the 1850s as the industrial revolution occurred, this is happening later in the Chinese economy.

In 1953, 13.3% of the Chinese population lived in urban areas; by 1996 this figure had more than doubled to 31%. In terms of the numbers of people, these numbers were massive, and so urban areas expanded quickly as rural declined. The areas that gained large numbers of people included Beijing, the capital and also Shanghai. Since 1979 over 100 million people have left the rural areas for urban areas, putting great strain on the infrastructure of these places, which does not develop at a similar rate to the population.

Within the UK, movements are mainly from the north to the south, to the southeast in particular, as these areas hold better job prospects. The south also attracts older members of society to the south coast where they spend their retirement days, as they get older and older, thinking of times past.

From the 1960s to the early 1980s London was losing 100,000 people every year to migration of one type or another. This trend has been reversed now and the capital experiences massive migration into the city.

There are several possible consequences of these large-scale movements; there are racial, religious, economic, and social problems that may be encountered. International migration causes most problems as this can result and often does result in racial problems. People become angry that foreign people come to countries and take the employment. Internal and international migration can result in problems with infrastructure, extra pressures for housing, food, gas, electricity etc. In many cases there are problems to do with lack of employment as people are misled about levels of available work in certain places.

As a conclusion describe and explain what the future holds for both countries.

China will probably continue to struggle with population; it is so large that their problems will continue for some time into the future. Some increases in population have increased due to the relaxation of laws so this will have to be tackled. As population does increase it will be important that the government keeps the infrastructure of the country at a good standard to cope with the high population.
For the UK the future could hold a possible stage 5 in the demographic transition model, this could result in problems. An aging population will need looking after and this will need to be funded and maintained. The old people will need special care and attention and homes, including better health care and stair lifts.