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1. C hina is one of the world’s leaders in terms of economy, growing at about 5% a year pre-
1978, and 13% per year after 1978. It has a massive population of 1.3 billion, which is
20% of the world’s total population. It is still growing steadily to this day. But like every
other country in the world, China does have its issues. The two main issues are overpopulation and
poverty.
The population issues were manageable at first, small issues that didn’t need to be dealt
with. But eventually, in 1978, the
population skyrocketed. It was about
12% in population growth at the time.
The government had to go into drastic
measures, and they decided to fine
people for having too many children.
That’s when China introduced the One
Child Policy.
What is the one child policy? It’s a law
introduced by the Chinese government
to try and control the population.
Couples had to pay a fine if they had
more than one child. This caused mass
protest, but the policy held strong.
However, the one child policy
has some disadvantages. Abortion rates
and infanticide have increased since
this policy was introduced. This is due
to Chinese people traditionally wanting
boys instead of girls, because of males
working harder than girls, sending back money to the family. So they abort or kill babies as soon
as they find out it’s a girl. Because of this, the male to female ratio in China is 12:10. Also,
because of the one child policy, the child might become spoiled and over pampered, because of
parents paying all their attention to one child.
But China does need this policy. China does not have infinite space. Sooner or later, it’s
going to start overcrowding. That means fewer resources, less space, and less job opportunities.
That can eventually lead to economic collapse. One child policy seems to work and reduces the
population. The population is now not growing as fast, and there are more job opportunities,
leading to more money, leading to less poverty.

2. But there’s another country
with a similar problem, that’s
handling it in a radically different
way. It’s Kerala, one of the most
populated states in India. It has a
total population of 33.3 million
people.
Kerala handles it by acting
kind to the population, rather than
punishing them. In Kerala, women
have equal rights, and get proper
education. 85% of the total
population of Kerala is educated.
Better-educated parents are more
likely to take better care of their
children, reducing infant mortality
rate. This policy was introduced
some time during the 1950s, and
has no official name.
Also, in Kerala people are still happy about having female children. Traditionally in India,
when two people get married the bridegroom’s family has to pay money to the groom’s family.
This is called a dowry. In Kerala, it’s the other way around. The groom has to pay the dowry to
the bride’s family. This encourages families to have more female children. Unfortunately, the
payment of dowries in Kerala was banned in 1992.
The disadvantages of this
policy are that there is still no limit
to the number of children a person
can have, so the population can still
grow rapidly. However there is
proof that this policy works.
Kerala’s population had been
growing at an alarming rate before
this policy was introduced. Now, the
charts show that the population
growth has started to decrease. In
1974, the population was growing at
roughly 25% per year. Now, it
grows at about 1.7% per year. That’s
a significant reduction in the
population.
The two different countries faced
with the same problem, but each
took a drastically different solution.
Both solutions seem to be very
effective in tackling the problem.