China On Preventing Overpopulation

            China"s Birth Regulations Are Justified.

             What would you think if someone told you that you weren"t allowed to exercise one of your basic human rights? How would you feel if someone told you that you weren"t allowed to have another child? Many people would be outraged. China is a country with a severe over population problem. In order to combat the problem, the Chinese government has instituted family planning policies which regulate citizens" permission to have multiple children. Before one jumps to the conclusion that family planning inhibits people"s rights, it is necessary to fully understand the benefits it has had on China"s overpopulation problem. Family planning is justified because it has effectively regulated over-rapid population growth, promoted positive changes in people"s thoughts on marriage, birth and family, and has aided development of China"s economy and living standards.

             For those unfamiliar with the family planning regulations, the following is taken from a U.S. Department of State report, released by the Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor: The State Family Planning Commission formulates and implements policies with assistance from the Family Planning Association, which has 83 million members in 1.02 million branches. Chinese demographers at an October conference predicted that the population would reach almost 1.56 billion in the year 2044 if the current fertility rate continued. Most estimated fertility at 2.1 births per woman-indicating that the "one-child policy" is not applied to the majority of Chinese couples. Couples in urban areas are most affected, seldom receiving permission to have more than one child, although the Government maintains that urban couples who themselves were only children may now receive permission to have two children. Outside the cities, exceptions to the "one-child policy" are becoming the norm. The average number of children per family in rural areas, where 70 percent of the people live, is slightly over two.

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