How It Has Been Managed: Chinese Overpopulation

Overpopulation is when a place can no longer hold any more people without shortages. Some shortages are food insecurity, water cleanliness and amount, housing supplies, people not able to pay taxes, lopsided sex ratios, ageing population, spread of life-threatening disease and sicknesses and not enough space for healthy and clean living. These shortages create overpopulation. Some people get confused between urbanisation, overcrowding between overpopulation. The difference between overcrowding and overpopulation is overcrowding is having to many people in one area and overpopulation is have to many people in an area but can be sustained.

When Chinese Overpopulation Occurred

In 1949 The Republic of China became The Peoples Republic of China which changed the government to a communist party from a dictatorship which boomed the population as they brought in a doctor service called “Barefoot Doctor” which specialised in births which rapidly decrease infant mortality rates. As Shown in figure 2 the birth rate spiked, and the mortality rate dropped after change of governments but in a famine in the 1960s birth rates dropped and death rates soared. When this famine stopped the doctors helped increase the population and birth rates and this booming population created an idea of having a one child policy. This policy had great effect in positive and negative ways. This policy had great affect in terms of population as the population was declined dramatically and the fertility rates dropped melodramatically so much that now it 2019 rates are too low to keep a stable population. This frightening rate saw the inclusion of the 2-child policy which took immediate effect. As shown in figure 3 in 2016 birth rates skyrocketed 12.95 births per 1000 people but in 2017 rates dropped again to 12.43 births per 1000 people. This represents that even though people were quick to have a second child the policy couldn’t continue this healthy outburst. This happened because the government brainwashed the Chinese citizens that the one child was good and when the government want to push the people to have more children cause of the aging population people were happy to have only one or none because of the rising house prises and women getting sacked or demoted from work if they have children. Another negative to the one child policy was it created the 4-2-1 family which is 4 grandparents 2 parents and 1 child. This family problem is bad as sometimes a child must care for all of their family without the help of brothers or sisters which can lead to loss of job and their freedom as a young adult. One more problem of this policy was the population aged dramatically. This led to labour shortages and not enough money to pay pension to the elderly, this is still currently happening today as last year labour rates dropped for a seventh time straight. As shown in figure 4 china’s population is bulking up in the 40s and 50s which is not a good sign of a steady population. This means that when these people retire today young people will have the country on their hands as they will control the GDP and labour but most likely will not have enough people and money to pay taxes for the elderly.

Social Impacts

Overpopulation has left a massive social hole in China's society as they're ghost children or heihaizi which are illegal second children which don't have rights to work, school and doctors. These children that are unluckily enough to be born into these families are likely to commit crimes and turn to gangs. As previously stated, China’s one child policy has caused fertility rates to slump and the overall populations to plummet but this led to an aging population has put pressure on young kids to get a good grade or a high paying job to help support the family which could lead to high levels of depression. A further social impact is askew gender ratios. In China people hope for a baby boy to keep the family name going, but this desire for men has significantly made the gender ratio spiral out of control making they 40million more men then women. This unbalance in gender is a massive social problem making men bid for women to marry. Women have been discriminated for years even to the extent of throwing baby girls in the bin as they are not wanted. As shown in figure 6 women speak to colleagues more than men as they are worried about discrimination. This conveys that women are scared to speak out about judgement of their gender. There is also increasing pressure on schools. On average a Chinese class size in 48.8 2 times the recommended class size of 21. This size is hard for kids to learn easily and correctly with so many other children in the class with them. As shown in figure 7 there is one teacher and 40+ kids. This problem is not going to be fixed fast, so government are slowly building more classes. Another problem for families is that parents are working late (typically 8am – 5am) this long day has forced the Chinese government to place laws that the school day the same starts and finishes at the same time as a workday.

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Economic Impacts

There are many economic impacts in both negative and positive ways. Overpopulation has caused wages to drop to 74318 yuan ($15285.17 aud). This drop has put mounting pressure on the “middle class” to keep up with the high taxes and the housing market. Another problem with the economy is the high taxes. In China people are forced to work and must pay taxes for the government and social security. Personal income tax is 45% and Social security taxes is 11%. All up people in china pay 56% tax. As shown in figure ?? personal taxes have stayed consistent for the past 9 years. This consistency is good for the people as they can’t complain that the taxes have been changing. China has a job crisis as there is not enough jobs for the next generation. This crisis may surprise you as there aren’t enough people working but people are not creating new businesses and are trying to get a job. But china has created more branches and unemployment has now dropped from 4.02% to 3.8% and opened up 28,000 jobs this success is likely to continue. China’s overpopulation has actually helped them economically. As shown in figure ?? china’s GDP per Capita was $90 usd in 1960 and now it is $9,500 usd. This growth has launched China into the centre of the trading world and put it in a powerful position.

Environmental Impacts

Overpopulation in China has caused only negative effects for the environment. The environment north of Beijing has succumb to desertification. Desertification is the process by which fertile land becomes desert, typically as a result of drought, deforestation, or inappropriate agriculture (https://www.google.com/). This dangerous human made problem is predicted to wipe out Beijing and turn all of north-east China into a desert. As shown in figure ?? all what is left besides the road is a few shrubs and bushes lining the road but 50m right or left to the road is sand and desert. This shows that people are demanding for food and all what the Chinese government can do it rip up forests and start farms. Over the past 10 years China has been booming but this good for the economy has been devastating to the environment. China has been named the biggest polluter in the world and there looks to be no stopping it. As shown in figure?? China’s co2 rates have soared insufficient which is 1 degree Celsius above the agreement. This means that China is not doing enough to stop their emissions. Lastly, China is the biggest coal importer in the world because its factories can not cope with the consumer demand. As shown in figure ?? on average China imports 27t of coal every month from many different places. This explains that China is not able to cope with the demand of coal usage in their own factories and have to pay billions of dollars annually to keep up with the customers pressure. Overall China need to lift their game to save not only their environmental future but Asia’s ecological future.

Political Impacts

Overpopulation in China has caused mountains of stress on all politicians in China as overpopulation has been chaotic issue. The one child policy has always been the word in parliament as there has been many issues with the policy like people developing ways to get around the policy like having pills that increase your chance of having twins and triplets but damages your health severely. What also caused stress was the harshness of the Chinese government, trying to get every person who broke the law. This tightness was effective in dropping birth rates, but people still tried which would most likely end up in a painful abortion or a heihaizi child. After the success of the policy it still wasn’t over fertility rates dropped to 1.7% and China was set for a decreasing population, so politicians went back to work and created the 2-child policy in 2016. After the success of populating the country again, the one child policy did more damage as people were brainwashed into thinking the one child was good and now governments were campaigning that 2 was good now. This confusion was bad for the everyone and then again rates dropped again. Finally, in 2018 rates plummeted to the lowest rate in over 50 years. This decrease has pressured the government to act on the population and there is suspicion that the policy will be removed, and people will be free to have as many children as they want. Overall the Chinese government has been under pressure for the past 5 decades and still it looks to be not hopeful for the years to come.