The Population Situation in China Essay examples -- Impact Cause Effec

The Population Situation in China Introduction A country is said to be overpopulated when the number of people in an area exceeds that area's resource capacity to sustain human activities at a decent standard of living.(1) When the population cannot be maintained without rapidly depleting nonrenewable resources or converting renewable resources into nonrenewable resources quickly enough, measures must be taken either to control the population or increase the area's resources. The People's Republic of China experienced a population explosion after World War II that sent its population doubling to 550 million in 1950. The country's growth of 14 million per year is equal to a new Australia every year.(2) With the rapidly developing population situation, the Chinese government implemented many policies to curb the population growth. Many of such policies raised issues surrounding the repression of freedoms and the demeaning of human rights. This paper will outline the various reasons for China's population growth, it's impact a nd the various governmental policies to control population. China's Population Distribution China has more people than any other country. By the end of 1995, one out of every five people in the world lives in China. China had a population of 1,211.21 million living on the mainland. By contrast, the United States, with the third largest population, accounts for only one of every twenty people.(3) China's population density of 126 people per square kilometer (317 persons per square mile), according to the 1995 sample survey on one percent of China's population, is relatively high.(4) However, China does not have the highest population density in the world because of the country's vast land r... ...ina.html China Today, http://www.chinaolympics.com/ctoday/populat.htm, 1996. One-Child Population Control Policy of Communist China, http://www.forerunner.com/lci/X0004_Population_Control_C.html Palmer, M. "The Re-emergence of Family Law in Post-Mao China: Marriage, Divorce and Reproduction," 141 China Quarterly 110, 126 (March 1995). People's Republic of China Yearbook 1992-1993, No. 8 Rubenstein, J. M., An Introduction to Human Geography, 5th ed. (New Jersey: Prentice Hall, 1996). The Center for Reproductive Law and Policy, Inc. "Women of the World," http://www.echonyc.com/~jmkm/wotw/china.popfam.html, 1995. World Resources Institute, "China's Population Future," http://www.wri.org/wri/enved/giants/chi-pop.html, 1994-95. Xiao, Z., "Integration of Population With Development: China's Practice," China Population Today, August 1994.