High Population Growth Rate example essay topic

For named countries explain how and why government policy may cause population change? Population structure is a sensitive issue that is different and individual in every country. Government policies impact both the present day structure and future changes of a country. To help answer the above question it is helpful to look at the global change in population. One must be careful not to make drastic generalisations, but during recent years population change has taken a form predicted by many; LEDC's population is growing to a huge size. Looking to the future, global food demand is set to increase by at least fifty per cent in the next thirty years - mainly due to population growth.

The effects of this change are decreased standard of living, via lack off food, employment and crowded living conditions. The reasons for the increased population in LEDC'S are many and one must take into consideration the fact that every country is different. One can however base the answer on some generalisations: MEDC's exploitation of the LEDC's resources, war, lack of a good health service and natural hazards. These factors all produce a lower quality of life than what we would expect from living in an MEDC, so the question many ask themselves is why these countries have such a high rate of population increase. I think that the answer to this question can be found by first noting the fact that many LEDCs have a high birth rate. This is due to many factors, including no contraception, couples having babies to compensate for the high enfant mortality rates, children can help look after the old, religious reasons, and children can provide income by working in factories.

The benefits of having children seem to out weigh the odds to the many couples who often have more than children. A good example of a country that has high birth rates due to culture can be found in India. In certain parts if India women have a low status and so cannot inherit land, or go to school. Due to religion, when a girl is given away at marriage, money has to be provided. This means that women are seen as a financial burden to families. In a country where the conditions are already harsh, with drought and disease rife, this burden is seen as an unnecessary problem.

This means that parents often want boys in the family to inherit land, and look after them when they are old. Women cannot do this as when she is married, she will have an obligation to her new family to look after their elders, not to their parents. This has meant that couples will have keep trying for a child in order to have a male child, so birth rates increase. Death rates in LEDCs have fluctuated.

This is because during times of war and famine, death rates are high. However, after these periods, as a country recovers, the death rate will decrease. Health care in some LEDCs has improved over the past few years, so death rates have decreased. However, many LEDCs still suffer from poor medical facilities, disease, poor nutrition, and high Infant mortality. An LEDC with a high death rate due to disease is Africa. The disease that has taken so many lives is the Aids virus.

There are 30 million persons infected with the HIV / AIDS virus, who live in Africa. And a new United Nations report, said the Aids epidemic is the biggest challenge to improving the lives of people in Africa, stating that some 15 million people are believed to have died from Aids in Africa. In countries such as Angola, the Sudan, the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Burundi, there are many more people who require emergency assistance. Africa's health service is under constant strain to help these dyeing people, and looking after their children when they die. However, in a country with other problems such as drought, war conflicts and famine, there is not enough money to help everyone.

This lack of funding has lead to very high death rates in Africa. Young people in their 30's, at the reproductive age are dieing, leaving Africa with a huge problem. There will be not enough people to work, and keep Africa's economy going. At present, only a tiny number of Africans have access to the drugs that they need to give them a longer life, but recent changes in global trade rules mean the costs have fallen dramatically. Kenya's health ministry this week launched a programme to supply subsidised anti-retroviral's to 6,000 people infected with HIV.

However, one must take into consideration the fact that some LEDCs have used their increased population to an advantage, such as Taiwan. In Taiwan they have used the large population to their advantage via using the cheap labour to improve the country's economical status. These countries are known as NICs (newly industrializing countries). In MEDC's the opposite of the situation in LEDCs is happening, and an ageing population is occurring.

The living conditions are so comfortable, in most parts of countries such as England that people have fewer children, as they are almost certain of the child's survival so they can keep their families small... Equal rights are promoted so women have power over their lives, and contraception is widely available to reduce the number of unwanted pregnancies. Children are also expensive, as living in an MEDC is usually expensive due to good quality education, health and a general good standard of living. Death rates in MEDCs are low. This is due to the better standard of living that people in MEDCs experience; such as the good quality health care, and availability of fresh food and clean water. This means that people in MEDCs are living longer, but having fewer children.

This has resulted in an ageing population, which could cause problems such as increased taxes due to more pensions to pay, and not enough working people to support the economy. As yet, no country has had a government policy implemented to resolve ageing populations, but many government policies have been developed to help solve the problems that a quickly increasing population has on a country. Governments have developed strategies for managing change in size and structure of a countries population. Turkey is one of the many countries that's population has been affected by government policies. For almost forty years after the establishment of the republic in 1923, the government of Turkey encouraged population growth. Use of contraceptives and distribution of information about them were prohibited by law, and the state provided financial incentives to encourage large families.

During the 1950's, however, members of the political elite gradually became concerned that the country's relatively high population growth rate of nearly 3 percent was hurting economic development. Following the military coup of May 1960, population planning became a major government objective. A 1965 family planning law provided for the establishment of the Family Planning Division within the Ministry of Health and Social Assistance to extend birth control information and services to as many couples as possible. A 1967 law decriminalized abortion and authorized use of this procedure for a broad range of medical causes. Access to abortion was liberalized further by legislation in 1983 stipulating that a pregnancy could be terminated lawfully upon request in a public hospital up to ten weeks after conception. A married woman seeking an abortion was required to obtain her husband's permission or submit a formal statement of assumption of all responsibility prior to the procedure.

Family planning services have expanded considerably since the mid-1960's. A primary focus has been on educating couples about the material and health benefits of both limiting and spacing births. The Ministry of Health adopted the 1978 International Congress on Primary Health Care recommendations that family planning be combined with maternal and child health services and undertaken in cooperation with state hospitals, maternity hospitals, health centers, and clinics in both urban and rural areas. In addition to its support of public education about family planning, the ministry has solicited the cooperation of volunteer associations and international organizations to promote its programs. But despite concerted government efforts to encourage smaller families, Turkey's birth rate between 1965 and 1994 declined at a relatively slow pace, falling only from thirty-three to twenty-eight births per 1,000.

Concern about the continuing high birth rate prompted the Ministry of Health in 1986 to launch a new population control campaign that concentrated on rural areas, where the fertility rate was highest. The campaign included the construction of new health clinics, the expansion of centers training medical professionals in family planning counseling, and the enlistment of private-sector cooperation in the distribution of birth control information and materials in factories. Private businesses established the Turkish Family Health and Planning Foundation, which has supplemented the state's population control efforts since 1986 through its financial support for special training programs and nationwide television advertisements. This policy has been effective in decreasing birth rates, and future data for Turkey should show low birth rates.

However, when a country decreases its birth rates, there may be the risk of an ageing population, due to less children being born. This could problems such as increased taxes, increased retirement ages, and more elderly dependant on the working groups. Another country that wished to decrease its population was China, however, the government was more forceful than in Turkey, and adopted a 'one-child' policy. There are problems associated with overpopulation, which can cause a government to introduce a policy to lower the population figures.

China has the highest population in the world, encompassing 1.2 billion or twenty one percent of the world's population (P.R.B. 7). China faces serious social and economic problems associated with overpopulation in the years to come. Overly populated regions lead to degradation of land and resources, pollution, and detrimental living conditions. The Chinese government has tried to find a solution to the problem of increasing population with moderate success; China's population control policy. The Chinese government has used several methods to control population growth.

In 1979, China started the "one child per family policy". This policy stated that citizens must obtain a birth certificate before the birth of their children. The citizens would be offered special benefits if they agreed to have only one child. Citizens who did have more than one child would either be taxed an amount up to fifty percent of their income, or punished by loss of employment or other benefits. Furthermore, unplanned pregnancies or pregnancies without the proper authorization would need to be terminated. In 1980, the birth-quota system was established to monitor population growth.

Under this system, the government set target goals for each region. Local officials were mainly held responsible for making sure that population growth totals did not exceed target goals. If target goals were not met, the local officials were punished by law or by loss of privileges. There are problems associated with population policies. There have been many problems associated with the policies and programs established by Chinese officials. First of all, these programs have been difficult to implement and have had little success.

Local officials in charge of growth totals have falsified reports in order to avoid punishment. Consequently, this has led to under reporting of the number of births by as much as twenty-seven percent in 1992. Moreover, compliance with the birth-quota system has been low. Of the 14,808 infants born between 1980-1988, only about half have been with a legal birth permit. Of those born with a permit, eighty-eight percent were first children born into families.

Furthermore, out of the second children born, only eleven percent was authorized. Lastly, people of rural communities, who depend on having larger families to help with the farms, have succeeded in finding ways around the birth-quota system.