China Population and Economy Growth

Do you think that China benefits from purposely restricting the growth population? Should later, longer, fewer be a norm China should continue to follow? Later marriage, longer spacing between births, and fewer children. With evidence, I'll explain why this policy isn't the best to combat the growth in the population. The population rate of China is only 0.6% compared to the world population average of 1.09% per year.

This does not only affect the population overall, but it affects economic development and growth. The population growth rate has been decreased since the 1970s. The growth rate in 1970 was 2.8% annually and slowly declined to what is it now .6% in 2017, according to worldbank.org. To further explain, economic growth is when a nation's wealth increases over time in production of services within a period of time. Development is more of a improvement in factors such as health, education, and technology.

Both economic development and growth are a crucial aspect of any nation. In efforts to achieve economic growth, China was determined to believe that its natural resources would benefit by its one-child policy. In time, it has proved otherwise. With its greater demand for an adequate labor force, it is now suffering the consequences. The one-child policy does not only affect the industrial and agricultural sector by minimizing what is available for growth, but it also raises other factors like violence through sex-trafficking. In the past, China has dealt with a greater than average growth rate compared to other countries. This is partly due to the economic expansion followed by WWII. The beginning of World War II was known as the "economic boom". It was a strong period of population expansion. China became an urbanized country, with 52%, in 2012. This is when the urbanized area outweighed the rural. Urbanized is land dedicated to more industrialized operations. Rural are the areas that are open land dedicated to mostly farming, and have minimum to no industrialization. Many individuals and families chose to migrate to urbanized areas to achieve the resources that they would not have in rural areas.

Therefore, many individuals migrated to urban areas to have access to many things that their original rural area could not provide. A big incentive for parents was to provide their kids with access to an education, healthcare, and additional resources such as food. Many rural families are believed to have big families. There are various reasons as to why this could be beneficial to poor families living in rural areas. In theory, children can help with the labor in agriculture and financially sustain their parents as they age. The inability to obtain a proper education and methods of birth control contributed to the population growth. According to studies 93% of the Rural mothers and 88% of the Rural fathers have less than a high school education. Compared to 61% of the urban mothers and 51% compared to the uban fathers, respectively.

To achieve both economic growth and development, a program was announced in 1978 that encouraged families to have no more than two children. This ideology for family was favorable in the eyes of the chinese government. In 1979, the Chinese government limited families to the one child in effort to slow down the rapid population growth. Before the one-child policy the government was encouraging citizens to increase the population of China. Soon the negative effects became apparent. The food productivity was at a decline which resulted in the whole country reaching a state of starvation. Starvation was so prominent to the point that people died from it. In the government's perspective the one-child policy was a great success. The government claimed that the one-child policy has helped the country reach 400 million fewer births in the past 30 years. The negative consequences are apparent after the one-child policy the government initially enforced. The first problem was abortion. A lot of couples preferred a boy instead of a girl. Boys are seen to have a greater chance in supporting the family in the future and due to this they are favorable. Couples would prefer to abort the pregnancy if it resulted to be a girl.

This brought another problem. The lack of balance within gender ratio. The ratio of men to women, in China's population, was a whopping 115.8 to 100. As a result, this ended up making it more difficult for a man to find a woman to get married to. In efforts to find a companion, men turned to sex-trafficking. Michelle Lillie, from the article, Human Trafficking in China stated, "Human trafficking is an international problem that must be handled domestically. This becomes particularly difficult in a country known for its disregard of human rights and civil liberties." Michelle Lillie is saying that one-child policy brought sex trafficking. In the other hand, human rights is something important for some people in China. For example, citizens in China should receive the right to vote and do what they think is the best for them. The government should not be the one telling a person how many kids to have and how to raise them. According to statistics, China would punish you if you do not follow the one-child policy.

This can lead to death penalty, not having the same rights as other, in the same way, you would lose all your rights in China. Within the lack in equal male to female ratio, there was a significant increase of sex trafficking of women in China. Sex trafficking is the malicious intent to exploit a victim to sex. In other words, converting an individual to a sex slave. Sex-trafficking exponentially grew after the one-child policy. People are selling young women and girls for marriage and prostitution. Due to the strength of women naturally, they are more likely to be subdued to sex trafficking. Put yourself in those innocent victims position. Imagine being a women faced with the fear of becoming a victim of sex trafficking. Imagine being used for prostitution knowing that there is no guarantee in getting out of that situation. Women is rural areas are often-times not offered the same opportunities as men and thus are forced to submit to male authority. This inequality leaves women marginalized and vulnerable to sex trafficking. The demand for sex-trafficking women in China is directly related to the shortage of available women.

This problem is especially notable in the more rural, poorer areas of China where large numbers of young women migrate to urban areas in search of better economic opportunities. Many men seek marriage brokers to find them wives, whether that is within China or neighboring countries. In addition to this reality, the population of China now consists of the aging population. It is notable to say that the results of the one-child policy is that the population growth has slowed down tremendously. The working age population is shrinking. China's 1.37 billion people who are aged 15-64 has shrunk tremendously in the recent years. The age dependency ratio is, in turn, increasing. One of the consequence of the ageing population has been the increase of the elderly people dependent on those of working age. The working age is considered 15-64. As a consequence of the policy, the younger generation was restricted and could not substantiate for the aging populations labor force.

In theory, the older generation would have to work longer to not negatively affect China's economic growth and development in the long run. In 2014, 9% of the population of China was 65 or older. While 17% of the population was between 0- 15 years old. China society is growing and getting older than any other countries in comparison. At the time, Deng, the representative of the Chinese government, was concerned with the population growth rate and resources. It is as though he failed to to consider the negative influences that it would have on the economy and the elderly. It is a known fact that children are our future in the workforce for the economy. Many thought that enforcing such a law was a violation of a self right for their desire of reproduction. The government influenced the number of children a family could have. If the family chose not to obey, consequences would be final. The one-child policy was seen as cruel and corrupted, the consequences entailed being fined the amount that a family could make in a years earnings, their homes being destroyed, or being prohibited to an education.

If the family did not have the permit to have more than one child, and the government found out, they would be forced to undergo an abortion. The chinese government went to the extent to order officers to show up unannounced to check for secret pregnancies. The sole right of having more than one child was restricted. The consequences of this policy will forever remain in history. The future is now a concern. There are various methods to help with the limit in the population. Some suggestions that can help the gap, between the young and elderly, are to invest in research and development towards advancements in technology. This can help the industrial and agriculture sector by compensating the population lack that is present. The machinery that is produced can carry on the labor force that is currently non-existent. The timeframe that it takes to raise an adult can be seen as detrimental to the growth of the country.

Half of that time can be used to research and develop new equipment for both the industrial and agricultural sector. If this is seen as a threat to the population, the government can thus provide an incentive to families to have more family members and also, eventually will improve with the lack of gender ratio going on in China. While this may take a while to achieve the ultimate goal, it is better suited to start now than never. Individuals are led by incentives. If workers are provided with health care and better pay, this can lead to them wanting to work more. This is a financial security not only for them, but also their families. This can also be a means to find the solution for China's problem. The healthier the population is the better equipped they will be to work. It is a known fact that China has among the biggest populations in the world. Sadly, it is currently composed of the elderly.

When Deng initiated the policy, for the one-child, his main objective was to extend the limited resources and decrease the rapidness of the population growth. Others would disagree that growing the population would result in a negative outcome. There is a saying, too much can be a bad thing. There has to be an increase in the population growth, but also an increase in the resources. Economist should invest into a lot of this research to adequately prepare for a growing population. In the long run, we observe that the shortage in the labor supply is linked to the policy. The policy has risen more negative outcomes than positive ones. Yes, the one-child policy succeeded in greatly lowering the growth of the population, but with that came a decrease in the economies growth. Though the effects on the economy were not apparent until after about 20 years. The economy is focusing on getting old, rather than getting rich, as a result.

To further focus in on a solution, the Chinese government can discontinue the control amog how many member should be in the family. As previously explained, the negative consequences of the one-child policy are the increase in sex-trafficking, the aging population, the loss in economic growth. If there is no economic growth present, there will be no economic development. There has to be an increase in resources available to be able to fund the developing side of China. While the outcome of this policy has transcended beyond what Deng expected, the focal point is now what should be done. There are many countries in the world. Countries which are consisted of poor and rich. Whats sets the countries apart from poor and rich? It is the advancements and access to an education. This is the economic development. To achieve this, you must invest into schools and research and development. China should make this a priority. It is safe to say that before China decides on what policy to implement next, they should consider the long-term effects. The long-term to be considered is about 20 years. When they outweigh the pros and cons of that policy then they can further decide if it is worth enforcing. Wouldn't you think this is the best way to implement a policy?

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