Geography Unit 2

How has it changed over time?

The world's population has increased dramtically in the past decade. The population is estimated to reach as high as 9.2 billion people in 2050.

What is the impact of 'Urbanisation'?

Agricultural Change: In the Industrial Revolution, families needed to have larger families so that they could work in the factories. But now that technological advances have reduced the need for labour, so smaller families are more desirable.

Urbanisation: One reason for families to move to cities is so that their children can have better opportunities, so childrens labour is of less value=less children.

Education: As the Education system becomes more popular, children become an economic disadvantage, so parents have less children so that they can afford better future chances.

Emancipation and status of women: As economies and education develop, there are more opportunities for both boys and girls. The demand for work is so great that women must participate in paid work, and also reaching a good standard of living for a household requires two incomes. 

However, now that women have  careers, in order to reach the top, they must commit to a job, leaving less time for caring for children. This means that an increasing number of women are putting off having children, or never having children.

If the Birth Rate in some countries continue to decrease, then when the adults of this generation become elderly, there will be less people to do jobs and support them, which means a decline in population.

In India, the Government introduced a national family planning programme to try and control the population. Kerala's 32million people makes up 3.4% of India's population. Because of the policy, it has social and demographic statistics that rank next to Europe and North America. The policy included;

- improving education standards - treating both sexes equally - adult literacy classes - teaching people the benefits of smaller families - reducing infant mortality (less children needed) - improving child health through vaccinations - providing free contraception and advice-encouraging a higher age of marriage - allowing maternity leave for the first two babies only - providing extra retirement benefits for those with smaller families - following a land reform programme.

Today, more girls go to uni. than boys, villages have free libraries, land in Kerala redistributed so that noone was landless and everyone was self sufficient.

Beginning in 1979, the policy said that each couple;

- must not marry until their late 20s - must have only one successful pregnancy - must be sterilised after first child or must abort any future pregnancies - would recieve a 5 to 10% salary rise for having one child - would have priority housing, pension, and family benefits including free education for the single child.

If the rules were disobeyed;

- a 10% salary cut was enforced - the fine imposed was so large it would bankrupt many households - the family would have to pay for the education of both children and for health care for the whole family - second children born abroad are not penelised, but they are not allowed to become chinese citizens.

China is racially mixed, so the ethnic minorities were an exception. And in rural areas, where sons are essential to work the land, a second pregnancy was allowed if the first child was a girl, in the hope of getting a boy.

The one child policy questionable for many reasons;

• Women were forced to abort their babies as late as 9 months                      
• Women were placed under high pressure from family, workmates and the 'Granny Police'
• Local officials and Government had people over people's private lives
• Chinese society prefers sons over daughters, some girls were placed in orphanages or allowed to die in hopes of having a second son
• Chinese children have a rep. for being over-indulged

The policy did help efficiently though; the famine that was predicted never happened, population growth has slowed down. Some changes were made though, so that young couples who are both only children are allowed two children. However, there is now a huge gender imbalance, approx. 60million more young men than girls. Not all young men will be able to marry, and this will creat a problem for Chinese society in the future.