Misplaced Pages

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156-406: China's family planning policies began to be shaped by fears of overpopulation in the 1970s, and officials raised the age of marriage and called for fewer and more broadly spaced births. A near-universal one-child limit was imposed in 1980 and written into the country's constitution in 1982. Numerous exceptions were established over time, and by 1984, only about 35.4% of the population was subject to

312-589: A baby boom followed, and the Second National Population Census in 1964 showed a total population of around 700 million in mainland China . In 1962, the government began to promote family planning again, but it was rather ineffective and was interrupted by the Cultural Revolution starting in 1966. As a result, the population increase rate in China remained very high. In the period prior to

468-461: A "demographic dividend" to be realized, increasing economic growth and increasing gross national income per capita. If the family was not able to pay the "social child-raising fee", then their child would not be able to obtain a hukou , a legal registration document that was required in order to marry, attend state-funded schools, or to receive health care. Many who were unable to pay the fee never attempted to obtain their hukou for fear that

624-505: A British delegation led by Felix Greene in Beijing , saying that "we encourage one child per couple. We give economic rewards to those who promise to give birth to only one child." The policy soon began to be enforced nationwide, with some exceptions made for ethnic minorities and rural families. In particular, Ma Yinchu was rehabilitated during the Boluan Fanzheng period. In 1982,

780-485: A birth allotment were not supposed to get pregnant. Women who became pregnant without permission were harassed to get an abortion, with pressure also put on their husbands and other family members. Families were threatened that, if they persisted in having an over-quota birth, the baby would be denied household registration, which would mean denial of ration coupons, schooling, and other essential benefits that depended upon registration. In rural areas, women who gave birth to

936-430: A collection of songs, short plays, and skits relating to birth control was published as a volume titled Compilation of Birth Planning Literature and Art Propaganda Materials. Starting in 1979, given the overpopulation crisis at the time, China's new paramount leader Deng Xiaoping , together with other senior leaders, including elder Chen Yun , Premier Zhao Ziyang , and President Li Xiannian , began to promote

1092-450: A few hundred thousand animals, which implies that with the exception of Ross's geese, modern populations of geese are many millions more than in pre-industrial levels. Humans are blamed as the ultimate cause for the increase, directly and indirectly, due to management legislation limiting hunting introduced specifically in order to protect bird populations, but most importantly due to the increase in agriculture and large parks, which has had

1248-412: A fine (or "social maintenance fee") to have more children, the overall fertility rate of mainland China was close to 1.4 children per woman as of 2011. On 6 January 2010, the former National Population and Family Planning Commission issued the "national population development" 12th five-year plan . On 1 January 2016, the one-child policy was replaced by the two-child policy . The one-child policy

1404-415: A founder of China's population planning theory, was also an intellectual architect of the policy. In the late spring of 1979, Chen Yun became the first senior leader to propose the one-child policy. On 1 June 1979, Chen said that: Comrade Xiannian proposed to me planning "better one, at most two". I'd say be stricter, stipulating that "only one is allowed". Prepare to be criticized by others for cutting off

1560-446: A means of family planning and as a contraceptive. Should an abortion be required, the woman was to have a safe procedure done by a registered physician. Despite this, some women even in the 2000s chose or were encouraged to use traditional abortive products such as blister beetles , also known as Mylabris . Women would ingest the toxins orally or by means of douching with the hopes of inducing abortion. An overdose could lead to death of

1716-431: A moral obligation to leave sufficient habitat and resources to preserve viable populations of other species. Recent biodiversity losses show that humanity's success in supporting larger human populations over the past century has depended on reducing the populations of many of Earth's other species. This is a special example of the competitive exclusion principle in ecology, which states that two species which compete for

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1872-471: A pledge they had to make to ensure they would not have more children. Beginning in 1980, the official policy granted local officials the flexibility to make exceptions and allow second children in the case of "practical difficulties" (such as cases in which the father was a disabled serviceman) or when both parents were single children, and some provinces had other exemptions worked into their policies as well. In most areas, families were allowed to apply to have

2028-924: A response to China's rapid population growth, which was viewed as a major obstacle to the country's economic and social development. This slogan encapsulated three key principles: marrying later ( wan , 晚 ), spacing pregnancies farther apart ( xi , 稀 ), and having fewer children ( shao , 少 ) and was emblematic of China's national campaign of mandatory birth planning. The Chinese government aimed to reduce population growth by promoting guidelines for birth control and family planning. The government believed that having fewer children and spacing births more adequately would allow families to allocate more resources per child, resulting in better health and education outcomes for children. The policy aimed to achieve this by allowing parents more time and resources to invest in each child's health and education, as they would have fewer children to care for. The "later, longer, fewer" campaign

2184-525: A second child if their first-born was a daughter. By 1984, only approximately 35.4% of the population fell within the policy's original restriction. Furthermore, families with children with disabilities have different policies and families whose first child suffers from physical disability , mental illness , or intellectual disability were allowed to have more children. However, second children were sometimes subject to birth spacing (usually three or four years). Children born overseas were not counted under

2340-459: A similar problem: although the populations were formerly much less, they have swelled in the 20th century so that although two and a half million are shot each year by hunters in Western Europe alone, as of 1998, the population still appears to be increasing, causing problems for forestry and traffic. In an experiment where roe deer on a Norwegian island were freed from human harvest and predators,

2496-510: A social science background, while Song's group came from natural science background. Social scientists involved in this discussion in the mid-1970s, including Liu Zheng, Wu Cangping, Lin Fude, and Zha Ruichuan, prioritized the Marxist formulation of the population problem. They saw the problem as an "imbalance between economic and demographic growth," and wished to design a reasonable policy that considered

2652-455: A species is overpopulated, a variety of factors must be looked at. Given the complexity of the issue, scientists and wildlife managers often differ in judging such claims. In many cases scientists will look to food sources and living space to gauge the abundance of a species in a particular area. National parks collect extensive data on the activities and quality of the environment in which they are established. This data can be used to track whether

2808-572: A specific locales while more important for others such as the many species of salmon or trout. Monitoring of waterways and isolated bodies of water provide more frequently updated information on the populations in specific areas. This is done using similar methods to the mark-recapture methods of many land animals. The introduction of a foreign species has often caused ecological disturbance, such as when deer and trout were introduced into Argentina, or when rabbits were introduced to Australia and predators were introduced in turn to attempt to control

2964-429: A specific species is consuming larger amounts of their desired food source over time. This is done typically in four ways: Similar methods can be used to determine the population of fish; however some key differences arise in the extrapolation of data. Unlike many land animals in-land fish populations are divided into smaller population sizes. Factors such as migration may not be relevant when determining population in

3120-457: A then-surging population and alleviate social, economic, and environmental problems in China . Despite the legitimate ongoing rapid growth of China's population and the evident effects it brought to society, using the term "population crisis" to describe the situation is disputed. Scholars including Susan Greenhalgh argue that the state intentionally created a virtual population crisis in order to serve political ends. According to state promotions,

3276-493: A third child were pressured to get sterilized or have IUDs inserted, while urban women were trusted to continue using effective contraception until they were no longer fertile. Official statistics show that birth control operations, including abortions, IUD insertions, and sterilizations, increased sharply during the 1970s in association with the campaign to enforce birth limits. These drastic increases in birth-control operations suggest that highly coercive birth planning enforcement

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3432-589: A total population of 1.41 billion, but some serious issues were revealed, including the continuous decline of the birth rate and population ageing . At the end of the month, the Politburo of the Chinese Communist Party further relaxed its family planning measures to the " three-child policy ." Guidance was issued on June 21, 2021, proposing implementation including promoting the "three-child policy" and cleaning up old regulations involving fines for exceeding

3588-450: A variety of wild-animal populations including those of bison , deer , elephants , gray squirrels , pigeons , rats and wild horses . Among the limitations of injectable immunocontraceptives are a relatively long time between vaccine administration and a reduction in population size (although stabilization of population size occurs faster) and the need to be in close proximity with animals for injection. Oral vaccines do not have

3744-400: A very low total fertility rate . In 2007, 36% of China's population was subject to a strict one-child restriction, with an additional 53% being allowed to have a second child if the first child was a girl. Provincial governments imposed fines for violations, and the local and national governments created commissions to raise awareness and carry out registration and inspection work. However, over

3900-474: Is a concept used primarily in wildlife management . Typically, an overpopulation causes the entire population of the species in question to become weaker, as no single individual is able to find enough food or shelter. As such, overpopulation is thus characterized by an increase in the diseases and parasite-load which live upon the species in question, as the entire population is weaker. Other characteristics of overpopulation are lower fecundity, adverse effects on

4056-940: Is a state in which the population of a species is larger than the carrying capacity of its environment . This may be caused by increased birth rates, lowered mortality rates , reduced predation or large scale migration , leading to an overabundant species and other animals in the ecosystem competing for food, space, and resources. The animals in an overpopulated area may then be forced to migrate to areas not typically inhabited, or die off without access to necessary resources. Judgements regarding overpopulation always involve both facts and values. Animals are often judged overpopulated when their numbers cause impacts that people find dangerous, damaging, expensive, or otherwise harmful. Societies may be judged overpopulated when their human numbers cause impacts that degrade ecosystem services , decrease human health and well-being, or crowd other species out of existence. In ecology , overpopulation

4212-406: Is estimated that between 10 and 25 percent of dogs and cats are killed yearly. The animals are killed humanely, but the goal is to greatly lower and eventually completely avoid this. Estimating the overpopulation of pets, especially cats and dogs, is a difficult task, but it has been a continuous problem. It has been hard to determine the number of shelters and animals in each shelter around even just

4368-401: Is evil. Various case studies indicate that use of cattle as ' natural grazers ' in many European nature parks due to absence of hunting, culling or natural predators (such as wolves), may cause an overpopulation because the cattle do not migrate. This has the effect of reducing plant biodiversity , as the cattle consume native plants. Because such cattle populations begin to starve and die in

4524-480: Is primarily to seedlings, winter wheat and hay production. Changing the species composition to species less palatable to geese, such as Lotus may alleviate losses in hay operations. Geese also feed on agricultural land without causing economic loss, gleaning seeds from corn, soya or other grains and feeding on wheat, potato and corn stubble. In Québec crop damage insurance for the hay industry began in 1992 and claims increased yearly; actual compensation paid by

4680-783: The Great Leap Forward , because of Mao's belief that population growth empowered the country, preventing the emergence of family planning programs earlier in China's development. The state tried to incentivize more childbirths during that time with a variety of policies, such as the " Mother Heroine " award, a programme inspired by a similar policy in the Soviet Union . As a result, the population grew from around 540   million in 1949 to 940   million in 1976. Beginning in 1970, citizens were encouraged to marry at later ages and many were limited to have only two children . Although China's fertility rate plummeted faster than anywhere else in

4836-473: The IPBES , large international summaries of the state of scientific knowledge regarding climate disruption and biodiversity loss , also support the view that unprecedented human numbers are contributing to global ecological decline. Recent estimates of a sustainable global human population run between two and four billion people. Judgements about human or animal overpopulation hinge partly on whether people feel

One-child policy - Misplaced Pages Continue

4992-486: The Soviet Union . The Chinese communist government condemned birth control and banned imports of contraceptives . In 1953, the First National Population Census of China was conducted upon the suggestion of Ma Yinchu , then President of Peking University . The result showed a total population of more than 600 million (some 100 million increase from the number in 1949) as well as rapid growth of

5148-539: The Third National Population Census showed that the population in China had reached 1 billion, and at the end of the year, family planning became a fundamental policy in China (基本国策) as well as a constitutional duty . Given the crowded conditions of cities and a shortage of housing, urban people generally accepted the One-child policy. By 1982, 96% of urban families were having one child. The policy

5304-522: The carrying capacity of the environment; if the resources on which they depend are exhausted, they naturally collapse. According to the animal rights movement, calling this an 'overpopulation' is more an ethics question than a scientific fact. Animal rights organisations are commonly critics of ecological systems and wildlife management. Animal rights activists and locals earning income from commercial hunts counter that scientists are outsiders who do not know wildlife issues, and that any slaughter of animals

5460-474: The lynx . Another example is the cycles among populations of grey wolves and moose in Isle Royale National Park . For some still unexplained reason, such patterns in mammal population dynamics are more prevalent in ecosystems found at more arctic latitudes. Some species such as locusts experience large natural cyclic variations, experienced by farmers as plagues . When determining whether

5616-488: The one-child policy ) as well as harsh enforcement of such quotas. Together, these elements constitute the population planning program of the People's Republic of China . China's program should not be confused with the family planning programs instituted in other countries, which were designed to encourage parents to have the number of children they desired—in China, the provision of contraception through family planning programs

5772-470: The standing committee of the National People's Congress on 27 December 2015. The two-child policy was implemented primarily to solve the problem of population ageing . The policy was intended to stimulate and increase the birth rate considering that, from 2010~2015, the population growth in China was well under the average of the world's population growth rate . However, unlike the one-child policy,

5928-536: The two-child policy , the central Chinese government and local governments also provided incentives for childbearing to families expecting their first or those eligible to have a second child. Starting in 2017, regional governments in China introduced preferential policies to increase the birth rate, such as reducing taxes, providing subsidies for childcare, and extending paid maternity and paternity leave for both parents. Examples of regional incentive policies: Overpopulation Overpopulation or overabundance

6084-514: The " Anti-rightist Campaign and was forced to resign as the President of Peking University in 1960. In 1958, Mao launched the Great Leap Forward and began to promote population growth again, saying it was still good to have more people. The disastrous Great Leap Forward led to the Great Chinese Famine (1959–1961), during which approximately 15-55 million people died. Then in 1962,

6240-568: The 1970s. And in May 2021, the Xi Jinping Administration formally introduced the three-child policy to replace the two-child policy. After only two months, in July 2021, the government removed all penalties for couples who have as many children as they want. Birth planning policy in China was not a top-down process that developed in a linear fashion. As academic Sarah Mellors Rodriguez writes,

6396-420: The 1970s. Kill rates have dropped, with hunters taking only half as much in the 1990s. However, total numbers of kills have increased, i.e. there are more hunters, but they are killing less per person. Nonetheless, per household the kills are approximately the same, at 100 birds. This indicates that stimulating an increase in native hunting might be difficult to achieve. The Cree population has increased. Elders say

One-child policy - Misplaced Pages Continue

6552-651: The 1990s, government efforts to promote son/daughter equality in family planning and to eliminate the traditional son preference have increased. They further accelerated after the United Nations-sponsored Caring for Girls national campaign in 2003. From 1990 to 2010, the population in China grew from 1.13 billion (the Fourth National Population Census ) to 1.34 billion (the Sixth National Population Census ), with

6708-716: The Cultural Revolution, China sought to promote birth planning through art, entertainment, and posters. Trade unions, factories, the All-China Women's Federation , and local organizations hosted birth planning exhibitions. The Tianjin Foreign Trade Committee, for example, held an exhibition of 124 billboards explaining the benefits of delaying marriage, using birth control, use of IUDs , abortion procedures, and sterilization surgeries. Organized group conversations and cultural activities were also used to challenge

6864-448: The IUD was medically implanted into women in their child-bearing years to prevent pregnancies, thus out of order births. In the 1980s, women either had to receive an IUD after giving birth to their first child, or the husband would have to undergo a vasectomy. Between 1980 and 2014, 324 million Chinese women received IUDs and 108 million were sterilized. By law, the IUD was placed four months after

7020-479: The Military Control Commission of China's Ministry of Health announced that contraceptives would be provided free of charge, and Premier Zhou Enlai enacted population growth targets for urban and rural areas, respectively. Malthusian concerns continued, with two-child restrictions starting in the early 1970s under the later-longer-fewer program. After Mao died in 1976, the policy evolved into

7176-479: The Mute swan has seen an average increase of around 10-18% per year which further threatens to impact the areas they inhabit. Management of the species comes in a variety of ways. Similar to overpopulated or invasive species, hunting is one of the most effective methods of population control. Other methods may involve trapping, relocation, or euthanasia . In natural ecosystems, populations naturally expand until they reach

7332-455: The State Council. The policy was enforced at the provincial level through contraception, abortion, and fines that were imposed based on the income of the family and other factors. Population and Family Planning Commissions existed at every level of government to raise awareness and carry out registration and inspection work. The fine was a so-called "social maintenance fee", the punishment for

7488-776: The US and southern Canada have been falling steadily. This is blamed on a decline in people interested in hunting, more feeding areas for the birds, and larger flocks with more experienced adult birds which makes decoying difficult. Individual hunters are bagging higher numbers, compensating for lower hunter numbers. Management strategies in the USA include increasing the bag limit and the number of open hunting days, goose egg addling , trapping and relocation, and egg and nest destruction, managing habitat to make it less attractive to geese, harassment and direct culling. In Denver, Colorado , during moulting season biologists rounded up 300 Canada geese (of 5,000 in

7644-408: The US. Animals are constantly being moved around or euthanized, so it is difficult to keep track of those numbers across the country. It is becoming universally agreed upon that sterilization is a tool that can help reduce population size so that less offspring are produced in the future With less offspring, pet populations can start to decrease which reduces the amount that get killed each year. In

7800-653: The actual policy. The leader of the group, Song Jian , was a control theorist at the Ministry of Aerospace Industry. He was known for his career in missile science. Yu Jingyuan and Li Guangyuan were trained engineers in the field of cybernetics . Compared to the social scientists, this group of natural scientists had numerous advantages. They were politically protected during the Maoist period due to their importance in national defense and technology. They also had access to Western science. Eventually, they took an important role in examining

7956-412: The administrations of Jiang Zemin and Hu Jintao , continued promoting and imposing the one-child policy in most areas of mainland China. In 1991, the central government made family-planning goals the direct responsibility of local governments. Also in the early 1990s, experts from leading population-research institutes began appealing to policymakers to relax or end the one-child policy. Since

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8112-599: The annual cull. Millions of pounds of taxpayers' cash is spent on the annual cull. As of 2020, 100,000 deer are shot each year. Compounding the problem, some landowners have used supplemental feeding at certain shooting blinds in order to facilitate sport hunting. Overpopulation can affect forage plants, eventually causing a species to alter the greater environment. Natural ecosystems are extremely complex. The overpopulation of deer in Britain has been caused by legislation making hunting more difficult, but another reason may be

8268-594: The arrangement in which landowners privately cull the overpopulation of red deer has proved an abject failure. Scotland's deer are stunted, emaciated, and frequently starve in the Spring. As of 2016, the population is now so high that 100,000 deer would need to be culled each year just to maintain the current population. A number of landowners have proven unwilling to accede to the law, requiring government intervention anyway. It has been necessary to contract professional hunters in order to satisfy landowner legislation regarding

8424-474: The bark of trees, eventually destroying forests. Protecting forests from deer costs on average three times as much as planting the forest in the first place. The NGO Trees for Life spent weeks planting native trees in Scotland, aiming to rebuild the ancient Caledonian Forest . After winter snowdrifts in 2014/2015 flattened the deer fences, more than a decade's growth was lost in a matter of weeks. In 2009 – 2010

8580-450: The benefits of having one child. Propaganda took many forms throughout the one-child policy era and was able to target a wide range of age demographics. Children born in this time period spent most of their lives being exposed to the new expectations placed on them by society. Educational programs were also encouraged to promote one-child policy expectations. Many young teenagers were required to read Renkou Jiayu (1981), which emphasized

8736-402: The birth limit. But the new policy does not contribute much to reversing the trend of decreasing birth rate. Instead, China has seen population drop for the first time in over 60 years in 2022, with a drop of 850,000 people. The drop in population in China has increased to over 2 million in 2023. In April 2023, India overtook China to become the world's most populous country. Accompanying

8892-452: The birth rate. Some couples paid fines to have a second or third child, and others would attempt to circumvent the policy by having non-pregnant friends take the mandatory blood tests. The National Family Planning committee developed the slogan Wan Xi Shao ('later, longer, and fewer'), which was first enacted in 1973 and was in effect until 1979. This national idea encouraged later marriages and having fewer children. However, this policy

9048-401: The case. It is difficult to know what the numbers of geese were before the 20th century, before human impact presumably altered them. There are a few anecdotal claims from that time of two or three million, but these are likely exaggerations, as that would imply a massive die-off or vast amounts harvested, for which there is no evidence. More likely estimates from the period of 1500 to 1900 are

9204-542: The catfish industry in Mississippi alone between $ 10 million and $ 25 million annually. Cormorant culling is commonly achieved by sharp-shooting, nest destruction, roost dispersal and oiling the eggs . Geese numbers have also been called overpopulated. In the Canadian Arctic region, snow geese , Ross's geese , greater white-fronted geese and some populations of Canada geese have been increasing significantly over

9360-511: The central government organized a meeting in Chengdu to discuss the speed and scope of one-child restrictions. The notable aerospace engineer Song Jian was a participant at the Chengdu meeting. He had previously read two influential books about population concerns, The Limits to Growth and A Blueprint for Survival , while visiting Europe in 1980. Along with several associates, Song determined that

9516-499: The central government required that contraception, including oral birth control, condoms, and cervical caps, be distributed free of charge in rural China, especially among sent-down youth . According to academic Sarah Mellors Rodriguez, the success of this distribution campaign likely varied greatly by region. By the time Mao died in 1976, the population in China had exceeded 900 million. Trends in promoting birth planning through art continued after Mao's death. Under Hua Guofeng ,

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9672-629: The city), ironically on Canada Day , killing them and distributing the meat to needy families (as opposed to sending it to a landfill), to try to curb the number of geese, following such programs in New York, Pennsylvania, Oregon and Maryland. Complaints about the birds were that they had taken over the golf courses, pooped all over the place, devoured native plants and scared citizens. Such culls have proven socially controversial, with intense backlash by some citizens. Park officials had tried dipping eggs in oil, using noise-makers and planting tall plants, but this

9828-544: The cost of forest protection in Scotland ran to £10.5m. Some animals, such as muntjac , are too small and boring for most hunters to shoot, which poses additional management problems. In the United States the exact same problem is seen with white-tailed deer , where populations have exploded and become invasive species in some areas. The state of Wisconsin has an estimated population of 1.9 million White tail deer, measured in 2020. In continental Europe roe deer pose

9984-415: The cost of raising a child, the fines for having multiple children, birth control policies, and the accessibility of contraceptives. In addition, those who violated the one-child policy could lose their jobs, their titles, a portion of medical insurance, and opportunities for higher education for the second child; they could also face sterilization and the labeling of the second child as a "black child". All of

10140-404: The country. Aquaculture operations, recreation angling and populations of endangered fish such as the schelly are impacted by cormorant populations. Open aquaculture ponds provide winter or year-round homes and food for cormorants. Cormorants' effect on the aquaculture industry is significant, with a dense flock capable of consuming an entire harvest. Cormorants are estimated to cost

10296-469: The damage found at lower latitudes in the Arctic. There is little proper research in effects on other birds. The yellow rail ( Coturnicops noveboracensis ) appears to be extirpated from areas of Manitoba due habitat loss caused by the geese, whereas on the other hand the semipalmated plover ( Charadrius semipalmatus ) appears to be taking advantage of the large areas of dead willows as a breeding ground. In

10452-514: The deer doubled in population each year or two. In the Netherlands and southern England roe deer were extirpated from the entirety of the country except for a few small areas around 1875. In the 1970s the species was still completely absent from Wales, but as of 2013, it has colonized the entire country. As new forests were planted in the Netherlands in the 20th century, the population began to expand rapidly. As of 2016 there are some 110,000 deer in

10608-727: The degree of goose foraging at a site. Other effects are destruction of the vegetation holding dunes in place, the shift from sedge meadows and grassy swards with herbaceous plants to moss fields, which can eventually give way to bare ground called 'peat barrens', and the erosion of this bare peat until glacial gravel and till is bared. In the High Arctic research is less developed: Eriophorum scheuchzeri and E. angustifolium fens appear to be affected, and are being replaced by carpets of moss, whereas meadows covered in Dupontia fisheri appear to be escaping destruction. There does not appear to be

10764-460: The delivery of the first child. It was only medically removed after permission to conceive is granted by the community based upon various laws and policies on childbirth quotas. Despite this, some midwives illegally removed the device from their patients. This led to IUD inspections, ensuring that the IUD remained in place. Permanent legal removal of IUDs happens once a woman reaches menopause . In 2016 as means of loosening restrictions and abolishing

10920-507: The devastating 2008 Sichuan earthquake , a new exception to the regulations was announced in Sichuan for parents who had lost children in the earthquake. Similar exceptions had previously been made for parents of severely disabled or deceased children. People have also tried to evade the policy by giving birth to a second child in Hong Kong , but at least for Guangdong residents, the one-child policy

11076-518: The district's per capita income, plus one to two times the annual income exceeding the average. Families were required to pay the fine. The one-child policy was a tool for China to not only address overpopulation, but to also address poverty alleviation and increase social mobility by consolidating the combined inherited wealth of the two previous generations into the investment and success of one child instead of having these resources spread thinly across multiple children. This theoretically allowed for

11232-527: The drop in birth rate was caused more by other factors unrelated to the policy. In the West, the policy has been widely criticized for perceived human rights violations and other negative effects. Since the establishment of the People's Republic of China in 1949, socialist construction was the utmost mission the state needed to accomplish. Top state leaders believed that having more population would effectively contribute to

11388-408: The early 1960s and expanded to the establishment of local birth planning offices. By the mid-1960s, urban fertility rates were declining, primarily as a result of developmental factors including increases in education and state welfare benefits. Rural fertility rates continued to be high. In 1971, the country's total population reached 852 million. In that year, Mao's attitude changed again, and

11544-440: The early 1990s, experts from leading population-research institutes began appealing to policymakers to relax or end the one-child policy. As of 2007, only 36% of the population were subjected to a strict one-child limit. 53% were permitted to have a second child if their first was a daughter; 9.6% of Chinese couples were permitted two children regardless of their gender; and 1.6% – mainly Tibetans – had no limit at all. Following

11700-443: The early years of the sterilization campaigns, abortion was a method of birth control highly encouraged by family planning. With 55 percent of abortion recipients as repeat customers and the procedure easily accessible, women had chosen to abort and had been forced to abort because of laws, social pressure, discovery of secret pregnancy, and community birth quotas. In 1995, the People's Republic of China (PRC) warned against abortion as

11856-433: The effect of creating vast amounts of unintentional sanctuaries filled with food. Urban geese flocks have increased enormously. City ordinances generally prohibit discharging firearms, keeping such flocks safe, and there is abundant food. Geese profit from agricultural grain crops, and seem to be shifting their habitat preferences to such farmlands. Reduction of goose hunting in the US since the 1970s seems to have further had

12012-420: The effect of protecting populations. In Canada hunting has also decreased dramatically, from 43.384% harvest rates in the 1960s to 8% in the 1990s. Nonetheless, when kill rates were compared to populations, hunting alone does not seems to be solely responsible for the increase -weather or a not yet completed shift in habitat preference to agricultural land may also be factors. Although hunting may have formerly been

12168-452: The entire population to be subjected to mass starvation. The population of the predator drops, as less young are able to survive into adulthood. This could be considered a perfect time for wildlife managers to allow hunters or trappers to harvest as much of these animals as necessary, for example lynx in Canada, although on the other hand this may impact the ability of the predator to rebound when

12324-427: The environment (soil, vegetation or fauna) and lower average body weights. Especially the worldwide increase of deer populations, which usually show irruptive growth , is proving to be of ecological concern. Ironically, where ecologists were preoccupied with conserving or augmenting deer populations only a century ago, the focus has now shifted in the direct opposite, and ecologists are now more concerned with limiting

12480-431: The families who had more than one child. According to the policy, families who violated the law created a burden on society. Therefore, social maintenance fees were to be used for the operation of the government. The 2019 documentary One Child Nation portrayed the experiences of enforcement, primarily focusing on rural China. Enforcement of the one-child policy was more uneven in rural China. The Family Planning Policy

12636-447: The fencing needed to protect against deer. A significant amount of the environmental destruction in Britain is caused by an overabundance of deer. Besides ecological effects, overpopulation of deer causes economic effects due to browsing on crops, expensive fencing needed to combat this and protect new afforestation planting and coppice growth, and increasing numbers of road traffic incidents . High populations cause stripping of

12792-500: The fine is the so-called "social maintenance fee" and it is the punishment for the families who have more than one child. According to the policy, the families who violate the law may bring a burden to the whole society. Therefore, the social maintenance fee will be used for the operation of the basic government. In 2013, an additional exception was added to the policy to permit a second child if both parents were only children. As of 2015, after nearly four decades of harsh enforcement,

12948-465: The first UN-organized World Population Conference held in Bucharest in 1969, they claimed that it was an imperialist agenda that Western countries imposed on Third World countries, and that population was not a determining factor of economic growth and a country's well-being. Yet, in the domestic setting the state leaders were already wary of the perceived "population crisis" that was thought to endanger

13104-481: The forest and reduce the amount of brambles, which then has knock-on effects on dormice and certain birds which nest near the ground, such as the capercaillie , dunnock , nightingale , song thrush , willow warbler , marsh tit , willow tit and bullfinch . Populations of the nightingale and the European turtle dove are believed to be primarily impacted by muntjac . Grouse populations suffer due to smashing into

13260-411: The global world. Skillful and deliberate comparisons were made with developed and industrialized countries such as the United States, Japan, and France. Under such a comparison, China's relatively low income per capita was attributed directly to population growth and no other factors. Though the data is truthful, its arrangement and presentation to readers gave a single message determined by the state: that

13416-577: The government began to promote family planning more sufficiently, causing the annual increase rate to drop below 2% after 1974. The policies at the time encouraged two children per family, and the slogan was "Late, Long, and Few" or "wan, xi, shao (晚, 稀, 少)," meaning late marriage and childbearing, birth spacing (at least 3 years between two births), and fertility limitation (no more than two children). Men were encouraged to marry at age 25 or later, and women were encouraged to marry at age 23 or later. Early 1970s promotion of family planning also emphasized

13572-590: The government were reflected in the day-to-day life of the average Chinese citizen. Since the Chinese government could not outright force its inhabitants to follow strict policy orders, the government developed strategies to encourage and promote individuals to take on this responsibility themselves. A common technique was placing an emphasis on family bonds and how having one child per family would increase emotional ties in parent-offspring relationships as well as extended family giving all their attention to fewer children. While

13728-451: The government would force extra fees upon them. Although some provinces had declared that payment of the "social child-raising fee" was not required to obtain a hukou , most provinces still required families to pay retroactive fines after registration. Since the 1970s, the intrauterine device (IUD) has been one of the most widely promoted and practiced forms of contraception. It was the primary alternative to sterilization . As directed,

13884-616: The government, including administrative costs, amount to some half a million dollars a year. Arctic regions are remote, there is little public understanding for combatting the problem, and ecologists as yet do not have any effective solutions for combatting the problem anyway. In Canada, the most important hunters of geese are the Cree people around Hudson Bay, members of the Mushkegowuk Harvesters Association, with an average kill rate of up to 60.75 birds per species per hunter in

14040-480: The harvest of venison or other wild meats, introducing large predators ( rewilding ), poisonings or introducing diseases. A useful tool in wildlife culling is the use of mobile freezer trailers in which to store carcasses. The harvest of meat from wild animals is a sustainable method of creating a circular economy . Immunocontraception is a non-lethal method of regulating wild-animal population growth. Immunocontraception has been successfully used or tested in

14196-528: The ideal population of China was 700   million, and that a universal one-child policy for all would be required to meet that goal. If fertility rates remained constant at 3 births per woman, China's population would surpass 3 billion by 2060 and 4 billion by 2080. In spite of some criticism inside the CCP, the family planning policy , was formally implemented as a temporary measure on 18 September 1980. The plan called for families to have one child each in order to curb

14352-420: The importance of family planning and birth control measures that would ensure the stability of the nation. Younger generations became the main target audience for much of the propaganda as the one-child policy continued, since they made up a large portion of the population that would contribute to continued growth if no policy was put in place. The one-child campaign extensively used propaganda posters. The aim of

14508-521: The language of contraception, avoiding terminology that had been popular in Republican-era China (such as shengyu kongzhi or shengyu jiezshi , which both directly translate the phrase "birth control") and instead adopting phrases like jihua shengyu (with the literal meaning of planned birth) and biyun (pregnancy prevention). In the PRC's view, the previous terminology had passive connotations, while

14664-410: The latter limitation, but they are still not as well developed as injectable vaccines. Judgements about overpopulation of wildlife or domestic animals typically are made in terms of human purposes and interests; since these vary, such judgements may vary, too. Judgements about human overpopulation are even more contentious, since the purposes and interests involved may be very important, even rising to

14820-496: The level of existence itself. Nevertheless, all people and every society have an interest in preserving a habitable biosphere, which may be compromised or degraded by too may people. In the context of rapid climate change, mass species extinction and other global environmental problems, discussions regarding human overpopulation are inevitable. Recent scientific evidence from many sources suggests Earth may be overpopulated currently. Evidence of rapidly declining ecosystem services

14976-475: The looming overpopulation crisis would ruin the national agenda of achieving "China's socialist modernization", which includes industry, agriculture, national defense, and technology. China's attitude towards population control on the global stage in international forums evidenced an ambiguous stance on the nature of the crisis. In the mid-1960s, when global movements for birth control emerged, Chinese delegates expressed their opposition toward population control. In

15132-652: The main factor in maintaining stable populations, ecologists no longer consider it a practical management solution, as public interest in the practice has continued to wane, and the population is now so large that the massive culls needed are unrealistic to ask from the public. Climate change in the Arctic would appear to be an obvious cause for the increase, but when subpopulations are correlated with local climatic increases, this does not seem to hold true, and furthermore, breeding regions seem to be shifting southwards anyway, irrespective of climate change. The nutrient subsidy provided by foraging in agricultural land may have made

15288-420: The message of population reduction was urgent and required immediate attention, it was more important for the government to stop conception and new pregnancies. The Family Planning Commission spread propaganda by placing pictures and images on everyday items. Aside from signs and posters on billboards, advertisements were placed on postage stamps, milk cartons, food products and many other household items to promote

15444-405: The methods used give estimates that vary in accuracy to the actual size and density of the population. Criticisms of theses methods generally fall onto the efficacy of methods used. Overpopulation can result from an increase in births, a decline in mortality rates against the background of high fertility rates. It is possible for very sparsely populated areas to be overpopulated if the area has

15600-433: The modernization of China. It is also suggested that mathematical terms, graphs, and tables were utilized to form a convincing narrative that presents the urgency of the population problem as well as justifies the necessity of mandatory birth control across the nation. Due to the previous traumas of the Cultural Revolution, public and top state leaders turned to the charisma of science, and sometimes blindly worshipped it as

15756-493: The mother and fetus . The efficacy of these products has been very low with a high mortality rate. The medical community and PRC have warned against use of these traditional methods. The priorities of individual families also played a role in the birth rate. Families debated the social and economic stability of the household prior to conception. Some families chose to follow the single-child limit due to varying social and economic factors such as marrying later, spacing out children,

15912-425: The national effort. During Mao Zedong 's leadership in China, the birth rate fell from 37 per thousand to 20 per thousand. Infant mortality declined from 227 per thousand births in 1949 to 53 per thousand in 1981, and life expectancy dramatically increased from around 35 years in 1948 to 66 years in 1976. Until the 1960s, the government mostly encouraged families to have as many children as possible, especially during

16068-455: The new terminology connoted a proactive approach. This linguistic shift was also intended to help influence a change in the primary mode of fertility control from abortion (which had been the most frequent method in the Republican period) to other forms like condoms and cervical caps. In 1957, Mao started to change his attitude and Ma, who supported family planning, was widely criticized in

16224-452: The number of participants. Socially willing participants were considered role models in the community. In 1983 mandatory sterilization occurred after the birth of the second or third child. As the restrictions tightened a few years later, if a woman gave birth to two children, legally she had to be sterilized. Alternatively, in some cases her husband could be sterilized in her place. In other cases, sterilization of surplus children occurred. In

16380-403: The official estimate implies instead that China's population today is some 600 million fewer due to the program since 1970. Current debates are not about the impact of the overall program but rather, the relative contribution of one-child limits to that program. To date, critics of China's official estimate have yet to acknowledge just how large an impact the overall program has had. Previously,

16536-434: The offspring. But if we don't do it, the future looks grim. Deng Xiaoping , then paramount leader of China , supported the policy, along with other senior leaders including Hua Guofeng and Li Xiannian . On 15 October 1979, Deng met a British delegation led by Felix Greene in Beijing , saying that "we encourage one child per couple. We give economic rewards to those who promise to give birth to only one child." In 1980,

16692-516: The one-child policy brought profound social and economic consequences that included a national gender imbalance due to the preference of male children for females, an aging population, and a shrinking workforce. On 29 October 2015, it was reported that the existing law would be changed to a two-child policy , citing a statement from the Chinese Communist Party . From 1 January 2016, the policy had become effective following its passage in

16848-415: The one-child policy in 1979, when a group of senior leaders decided that existing birth restrictions were insufficient to cope with what they saw to be an overpopulation crisis . But the one-child policy allowed many exceptions and ethnic minorities below 10 million people were exempt. In late 2015, the remnants of one-child limits were lifted and reverted to two-child limits as had been in place during

17004-533: The one-child policy, the Chinese government now covers the price of IUD removals. The most widely used alternative to IUDs has been sterilization. As the leading form of contraception in China, sterilization has included both tubal ligation and vasectomy . Starting in the early 1970s, massive sterilization campaigns swept across the country. Urban and rural birth planning and family planning services situated themselves in every community. Cash payments or other material rewards and fines acted as incentives, increasing

17160-490: The original restriction of the policy. In the mid-1980s, rural parents were allowed to have a second child if the first was a daughter. It also allowed exceptions for some other groups, including ethnic minorities under 10 million people. In 2015, the government raised the limit to two children , and in May 2021 to three . In July 2021, it removed all limits, shortly after implementing financial incentives to encourage individuals to have additional children. Implementation of

17316-816: The overall landscape use by geese unsustainable. Where such geese congregate local plant communities have been substantially altered; these chronic effects are cumulative, and have been considered a threat to the Arctic ecosystems, due to knock-on effects on native ducks, shorebirds and passerines. Grubbing and overgrazing by geese completely denudes the tundra and marshland, in combination with abiotic processes, this creates large desert expanses of hypersaline, anoxic mud which continue to increase each year. Biodiversity drops to only one or two species which are inedible for geese, such as Senecio congestus , Salicornia borealis and Atriplex hastata . Because grazing occurs in serial stages, with biodiversity decreasing at each stage, floral composition may be used as an indicator of

17472-469: The past decades. Lesser snow geese populations have increased to over three million, and continue to increase by some 5% per year. Giant Canada geese have grown from near extinction to nuisance levels, in some areas. Average body sizes have decreased and parasite loads are higher. Before the 1980s, Arctic geese populations had boom and bust cycles (see above) thought to be based on food availability, although there are still some bust years, this no longer seems

17628-540: The pill and condom in combination. The Chinese government promoted the use of IUDs and sterilization over the combined pill and condom because PRC authorities questioned the voluntary commitment of the public. The Chinese government has distributed free condoms at medical clinics and health centers to adults with proof that they are 18 years of age or older. Additionally, the rate and highly debated sexual education have increased awareness of sex and contraceptive measures among groups of China's young population, further lowering

17784-447: The policy also resulted in greater workforce participation by women who would otherwise have been occupied with childrearing , and some girls received greater familial investment in their education. The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) credits the program with contributing to the country's economic ascendancy and says that it prevented 400 million births, although some scholars dispute that estimate. Some have also questioned whether

17940-435: The policy faced large fines and other penalties. The population control program had wide-ranging social effects, particularly for Chinese women . Patriarchal attitudes and a cultural preference for sons led to the abandonment of unwanted infant girls, some of whom died and others of whom were adopted abroad. Over time, this skewed the country's sex ratio toward men and created a generation of "missing women" . However,

18096-522: The policy if they did not obtain Chinese citizenship . Chinese citizens returning from abroad were allowed to have a second child. Sichuan province allowed exemptions for couples of certain backgrounds. By one estimate there were at least 22 ways in which parents could qualify for exceptions to the law towards the end of the one-child policy's existence. In 1991, the central government made local governments directly responsible for family planning goals. Also in

18252-478: The policy process was "circuitous, convoluted, and contested." It was implemented by state actors and institutions, as well as non-state bodies and ordinary communities, families, and individuals. Shortly after the founding of the People's Republic of China in October 1949, Mao Zedong and the Chinese Communist Party encouraged Chinese people to have many children, imitating policies such as Mother Heroine from

18408-554: The policy was handled at the national level primarily by the National Population and Family Planning Commission and at the provincial and local level by specialized commissions. Officials used pervasive propaganda campaigns to promote the program and encourage compliance. The strictness with which it was enforced varied by period, region, and social status. In some cases, women were forced to use contraception , receive abortions , and undergo sterilization . Families who violated

18564-413: The population model as well as designing the details of one-child policies. After quantitative research and analysis, they showed the top state leaders that the only solution would be a policy "to encourage all couples to have only one child, regardless of the costs to individuals and society". Although Greenhalgh claims that Song Jian was the central architect of the one-child policy and that he "hijacked"

18720-649: The population policy making process, that claim has been refuted by several leading scholars, including Liang Zhongtang, a leading internal critic of one-child restrictions and an eye-witness at the discussions in Chengdu. In the words of Wang et al., "the idea of the one-child policy came from leaders within the Party, not from scientists who offered evidence to support it." Central officials had already decided in 1979 to advocate for one-child restrictions before knowing of Song's work and, upon learning of his work in 1980, already seemed sympathetic to his position. The one-child policy

18876-591: The population problem is a national catastrophe and immediate remedy is desperately needed. China was deprived of data, skills, and state support to conduct population studies. Due to Mao 's ambivalent attitude toward the population issue, population studies were abolished in the late 1950s. After Mao's death, family planning became a critical component and premise for reaching China's national goal: that is, to achieve "China's socialist modernization," which includes modernizing industry, agriculture, national defence, and technology. Therefore, at this point, population science

19032-425: The population, with an annual increase rate of over 2.2%. As a result, the family planning policies were approved and recommended by the Chinese government. China's first birth planning campaign began in 1954 with the repeal of the ban on contraception, although official efforts to promote the birth planning campaign did not begin in earnest until 1956 . The PRC also oversaw a linguistic and conceptual shift in

19188-473: The populations of such animals. Supplemental feeding of charismatic species or interesting game species is a major problem in causing overpopulation, as is too little hunting or trapping of such species. Management solutions are increasing hunting by making it easier or cheaper for (foreign) hunters to hunt, banning supplemental feeding, awarding bounties, forcing landowners to hunt or contract professional hunters, using immunocontraception , promoting

19344-530: The posters was to promote the policy, encourage compliance, and emphasize the benefits of having fewer children. Many of the posters were educational in nature, paying attention to reproduction, sexuality, and conception. They were produced by various government departments, ranging from ministries of health to local population policy centers. Family planning policies of China China's family planning policies ( Chinese : 计划生育政策) have included specific birth quotas ( three-child policy , two-child policy , and

19500-533: The predator may co-evolve , in response). In the absence of predators, species are bound by the resources they can find in their environment, but this does not necessarily control overpopulation, at least in the short term. An abundant supply of resources can produce a population boom followed by a population crash. Rodents such as lemmings and voles have such population cycles of rapid growth and subsequent decrease. Snowshoe hares populations similarly cycle dramatically, as did those of one of their predators,

19656-457: The prey population begins to exponentially increase again. Such mathematical models are also crucial in determining the amount of fish which may be sustainably harvested in fisheries , this is known as the maximum sustainable yield . Predator population growth has the effect of controlling the prey population, and can result in the evolution of prey species in favour of genetic characteristics that render it less vulnerable to predation (and

19812-448: The proliferation of forests, used by different deer species to breed and shelter. Forests and parks have caused Britain to be much more forested than it was in recent history, and may thus perversely be causing biodiversity loss , conversion of heath habitat to grassland, extirpation of grassland and woodland plants due to overgrazing and the changing of the habitat structure. Examples are bluebells and primroses . Deer open up

19968-625: The rabbits. When an introduced species is so successful that its population begins to increase exponentially and causes deleterious effects to farmers, fisheries, or the natural environment, these introduced species are called invasive species . In the case of the Mute swan, Cygnus olor , their population has rapidly spread across much of North America as well as parts of Canada and western Europe. This species of swan has caused much concern for wildlife management as they damage aquatic vegetation, and harass other waterfowl, displacing them. The population of

20124-494: The resurgence of goose populations in North America can be called one of the greatest success stories in wildlife management. By 2003 the US goose harvest was approaching 4 million, three times the numbers 30 years previously. In the United States, over half of the households own a dog or a cat. Even with so much pet ownership there is still an issue with pet overpopulation, especially seen in shelters. Because of this problem it

20280-460: The same limited resource cannot coexist at constant population values. Today humanity essentially competes with other species everywhere on Earth. We thus face choices regarding whether to preserve populations of other species and limit our own, or not. These essentially ethical choices  will make a difference in future judgements about overpopulation. In the Scottish Highlands ,

20436-483: The slogan, "Three is too many, one is not enough -- two is perfect." These policies were recommendations and compliance with them was voluntary. The fertility rate among urban families decreased from three children in the early 1970s to two children by the mid-1970s. The proliferation of barefoot doctors in the early 1970s increased abortion access in rural China and served as an important means of disseminating information about birth control and abortion. In 1974,

20592-449: The so-called one-child policy in mainland China. In the late spring of 1979, Chen became the first leader to propose the one-child policy, saying on 1 June that: Comrade Xiannian proposed to me planning "better one, at most two". I'd say be stricter, stipulating that "only one is allowed". Prepare to be criticized by others for cutting off the offspring. But if we don't do it, the future looks grim. On 15 October 1979, Deng met with

20748-483: The social consequences. These scientists came from the fields of social science, statistics, genetics, history, and many others. However, they had limited access to resources compared to the natural scientists who became involved in population policy making in 1978. Since population studies were forbidden from the 1950s until 1979, population science had made no progress between these two decades. Natural scientists were interested in using control theory and applying it to

20904-404: The solution to every problem. As a result, any proposal that was veiled and decorated by the so-called scientific back-ups would be highly considered by both the people and the state. Arguments started to come out in 1979 suggesting that the excessively rapid population growth was sabotaging the economy and destroying the environment, and essentially preventing China from being a rightful member of

21060-501: The taste of the birds has gotten worse, and they are thinner: both possibly due to the overpopulation. Elders also say that hunting has gotten more difficult, because there are fewer young and goslings, which are more likely to fall for decoys . Inuit and other people in the north do much less hunting of geese, with kill rates of 1 to 24 per species per hunter. Hunters can save some $ 8.14 to $ 11.40 per kilogram compared to buying poultry at stores. Total kill numbers from hunters elsewhere in

21216-424: The traditional Chinese preference for sons over daughters and for early marriage and achieved some success in this regard. In the late 1950s, Shanghai established neighborhood committees to promote birth planning, along with women's literacy and employment. Workers from these neighborhood committees went door-to-door to address individual concerns about birth control. This method was adopted in other cities by

21372-481: The two-child policy was not a mandatory requirement as it was open to any eligible families who wished to have a second child. An increase in the birth rate occurred in 2016 as the policy was implemented. However, the birthrate decreased again in the following years, reaching the lowest point in 2018, with only 15.23 million newborns. In May 2021, the Seventh National Population Census showed

21528-437: The variables played an important role in couples' decisions on when to conceive, placing their social and economic situation above the desire to bear additional children. Other examples of contraceptives have included the morning-after pill , birth control pills , and condoms . The morning-after pill has made up 70 percent of oral contraceptives in the Chinese market. Only seven percent of Chinese women had shared that they use

21684-399: The wild, rampant population growth of prey species often causes growth in the populations of predators . Such predator-prey relationships can form cycles, which are usually mathematically modelled as Lotka–Volterra equations . In natural ecosystems , predator population growth lags just behind the prey populations. After the prey population crashes, the overpopulation of predators causes

21840-688: The winter as available forage drops, this has caused animal rights activists to advocate supplemental feeding, which has the effect of exacerbating the ecological effects, causing nitrification and eutrophication due to excess faeces, deforestation as trees are destroyed, and biodiversity loss . Despite the ecological effects of overpopulation, wildlife managers may want such high populations in order to satisfy public enjoyment of seeing wild animals. Others contend that introducing large predators such as lynx and wolves may have similar economic benefits, even if tourists rarely actually catch glimpses of such creatures. In regards to population size, most of

21996-508: The wintering grounds in continental USA, effects are much less pronounced. Experimentally excluding geese by means of fencing in North Carolina has found heavily affected areas can regenerate after only two years. Bulrush stands ( Schoenoplectus americanus ) are still an important component of the diet, but there are indications the bulrush is being impacted, with soft mudflats gradually replacing areas where it grows. Damage to agriculture

22152-534: The world during the 1970s under these restrictions, the Chinese government thought it was still too high, influenced by the global debate over a possible overpopulation crisis suggested by organizations such as the Club of Rome and the Sierra Club . The fertility rate dropped from 5.9 in the 1950s to 4.0 in the 1970s. Yet, the population still grew at a significant rate. There were approximately 541,670,000 people in China in

22308-518: The year 1949. The number then went up to 806,710,000 in 1969. In the early 1970s, the state introduced a set of birth planning policies. It mainly called for later childbearing, longer time spans between having new children, and giving birth to fewer children. Men were encouraged to marry at age 25 or later, and women were encouraged to marry at age 23 or later.The authorities began encouraging one-child families in 1978, and in 1979 announced that they intended to advocate for one-child families. Ma Yinchu ,

22464-462: The years, the one-child policy had created much controversy, even within mainland China, especially over the human rights abuses due to its strict measures. According to the Chinese government (2007 & 2013), some 400 million births had been prevented due to its population control program since the 1970s. Some observers have called this estimate "bogus". However, the alternate model of 16 comparator countries proposed by these observers to refute

22620-462: Was already prevalent in both rural and urban areas, preceding the launch of the one-child policy. However, during the 1970s, the Chinese government was still concerned that the Wan Xi Shao policy would not reduce the growing population sufficiently. They felt the population would grow too fast to be supported, and a one-child policy for all families was introduced in 1979. Many of the tactics used by

22776-503: Was also enforced if the birth took place in Hong Kong or abroad. In accordance with China's affirmative action policies towards ethnic minorities , all non- Han ethnic groups were subject to different laws and were usually allowed to have two children in urban areas, and three or four in rural areas. Han Chinese living in rural towns were also permitted to have two children. Because of couples such as these, as well as those who simply paid

22932-507: Was closely related and tied with state politics. There was a perceived need to redefine population as a domain of science, identify the population problem in China, and propose a solution to it. Such efforts included many groups of people with diverse backgrounds. Among these experts, two groups held the most influence in defining the population problem and providing a solution to it. They were a group of scientists led by Liu Zheng , and another group led by Song Jian . Liu's group mainly came from

23088-455: Was enforced through a financial penalty in the form of the "social child-raising fee," sometimes called a "family planning fine" in the West, which was collected as a fraction of either the annual disposable income of city dwellers or of the annual cash income of peasants, in the year of the child's birth. For instance, in Guangdong, the fee was between three and six annual incomes for incomes below

23244-467: Was incorporated into the Constitution in 1982. The one-child policy had various exemptions, including twins, rural families who could have more children due to the necessities of farm work, and ethnic minorities . The strict limitation of one child applied to approximately 35% of China's population. The 1980 Marriage Law described birth planning as a national duty. Leaders after Deng, mostly

23400-683: Was later replaced by the one-child policy. According to Whyte and colleagues, many of the coercive techniques that became notorious after the one-child policy was launched actually date from this campaign in the 1970s. During the campaign, the state bureaucracy was in charge of enforcing birth control and oversaw birth-planning workers in every village, urban work unit, and neighborhood. These workers kept detailed records on women of child-bearing age, including past births, contraceptive usage, and menstrual cycles, often becoming "menstrual monitors" to detect out-of-quota pregnancies. In some factories, there were quotas for reproduction, and women who did not receive

23556-530: Was managed by the National Population and Family Planning Commission under the central government since 1981. The Ministry of Health of the People's Republic of China and the National Population and Family Planning Commission were made defunct and a new single agency, the National Health and Family Planning Commission , took over national health and family planning policies in 2013. The agency reports to

23712-402: Was not effective at enforcing the developing ideal of having fewer children since it was such a new concept that had never been seen in other regions of the world. The various problems that arose during its introduction were slowly addressed and it became progressively more targeted to corner women into limited control over their own bodies. The Wan Xi Shao slogan emerged during the 1970s as

23868-465: Was not sufficient. In Russia, the problem does not seem to exist, likely due to human harvest and local long-term cooling climate trends in the Russian Far East and Wrangel Island . It is also possible that the population growth is completely natural, and that when the carrying capacity of the environment is reached the population will stop growing. For organisations such as Ducks Unlimited ,

24024-402: Was originally designed to be a "One-Generation Policy". It was enforced at the provincial level and enforcement varied; some provinces had more relaxed restrictions. The one-child limit was most strictly enforced in densely populated urban areas. When this policy was first introduced, 6.1 million families that had already given birth to a child were given "One Child Honorary Certificates". This was

24180-637: Was presented in detail in the Millennium Ecosystem Assessment of 2005, a collaborative effort involving more than 1,360 experts worldwide. More recent scientific accounts are provided by ecological footprint accounting and interdisciplinary research on planetary boundaries for safe human use of biosphere. The Sixth Assessment Report on Climate Change from the IPCC and the First Assessment Report on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services by

24336-464: Was subservient to a birth planning program under which the government designated how many births parents could have in order to control the size of its population. In Chairman Mao Zedong 's time, the Chinese government had an ambiguous and changing attitude toward family planning, especially during the Great Leap Forward . Family planning was first introduced in the 1950s as a "recommendation," yet had never been strictly implemented until 1970, when

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