Demographic Economics of China and India Essay

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What are some of the differences between the population policies of China and India?

Before the establishment of the people’s republic of china, there already was a high birthrate. According to Sreenivas (2006), between 1840 and the establishment period, there was a population increase from 410 million to 540 million. The statistics indicated an annual increase of 1.19 million, with an annual growth rate of 2.5%. Government-supported socialist opinion viewed rapid population growth as an indication of development and prosperity.

The China government, therefore, instituted some improvements in the social and economic aspects of the country, which led to a reduction of mortality rate. Later on, the Chinese government projected a major threat to national food security and declared “war” against population increase. The policies used in population control included the introduction of Contraceptives, inducement of abortion procedures, sterilization of the male gender, and birth control regulations, which were intended to support the zero growth objective (Eager, 2004).

In India, on the other hand, to control population increase, the government implemented family planning, permanent sterilization, and the introduction of intrauterine devices (IUDs). They were not successful as anticipated due to poor training of technicians, poor medical screening of patients, cost of some of the exercises, information asymmetry, hesitation among the general population to accept the chosen methods of birth control, and cultural difficulties. Similarly, China encountered the same difficulties during policy implementation (Eager, 2004).

The difference between the policy in China and India is that India attempted to keep their family planning programs more voluntary but with no emphasis on gender equity and education. Contrary wise, in China, the family planning programs were forced on people. The government though advocated gender equity and initiated awareness programs to educate the mass on the policies (Chai & Roy, 2006).

India’s population is expected to overtake that of China within the next decade. What differences between these two nations could have contributed to this outcome?

The population of India is expected to overtake that of China within the next decade. This phenomenon is facilitated by the fact that China supports the use of abortion as a family planning method. Abortion is a hazardous practice that has potentially fatal consequences. The population of China is a result, subject to less birth rate and more women mortality rates. The Chinese government used the incentive-disincentive family planning method as opposed to one-time sterilization in India.

The incentive-disincentive method effectively facilitated birth control by rewarding and assisting families. It, therefore, means that in the next decade, other factors held constant, there will be low birth rates and high women mortality rates (Chai & Roy, 2006). The situation will rapidly reduce the population size in China, contrary to that of India.

What are the characteristics of those who migrate to urban areas? What positive and negative effects do their leaving have on those who remain?

According to Schrank (2000), urban migration is the process of moving from less developed regions to more developed regions. More developed areas are referred to as urban areas, while less developed areas are referred to as rural areas. The most likely migrants to urban areas are the young, better educated, risk-tolerant, less responsible (no family), and entrepreneurs. Schrank (2000) states that exercise relieves the community of economic and moral burdens. The exercise is disadvantageous to the rural community members because they lose the young, educated, and fresh minds that have the potential of transforming the welfare of the community members.

The rural communities also lose energetic people, a situation that further impedes the rural economic development. According to Tobi (1989), urban business manifests itself in the following ways; less developed areas suffer from insufficient spending on education and health care compared to the population size. The inequalities between these areas lead to the migration of skilled people from rural areas to cities. In general, urban business is the inequality, in terms of resources, between the urban and the rural regions.

Urban business causes unequal resource distribution between the rural and the urban regions. That is, more resources tend to be allocated to the urban regions than to the rural regions. Urban areas have better infrastructures (roads, buildings) compared to the deteriorated infrastructural situation in rural areas. People in rural areas are forced to pay higher levels of national tax comparative to the levels in the urban areas. Urban bias is characterized by price twist, a condition that results in double price payment as compared to the normal market price (Tobi, 1989). For example, the comparison of the state of the art infrastructure available in New York City and those in Texas ranch sites would be an insane attempt.

How did the rural-urban migration process work for the rapid growth in China as compared to other comparable densely populated developing countries such as India, Bangladesh, or Pakistan?

Rural-urban migration leads to population influx in urban areas. The availability of both skilled and non-skilled labor is increased. The situation has a long-term effect of reducing the cost of labor, thus reducing the cost of labor-intensive products. The movement increases the levels of production, thus leads to economic growth (Angotti, 1993). According to Chai & Roy (2006), China’s economy has been growing at an approximate rate of 9% per annum between 1978 and 2008.

This rapid growth is attributed to a huge amount of investments made in various China towns like Hong Kong. The China government through its policy reforms facilitated rapid growth. Chai & Roy (2006) asserts that China majorly participated in export trading. The policy reforms also paved way for economic activities such as privatization of public sectors and partnerships with various potential stakeholders. More importantly, it should be noted that the migration of people from the west led to an increased supply of labor. The movement also brought rich foreign expertise that played a crucial role in the development of China.

References

Angotti, T. (1993). Metropolis 2000: Planning, poverty and politics. London u.a: Routledge.

Chai, J. C. H., & Roy, K. C. (2006). Economic Reform in China and India: Development Experience in a Comparative Perspective. Cheltenham: Edward Elgar Pub.

Eager, P. W. (2004). Global population policy: From population control to reproductive rights. Aldershot, Hants, England: Ashgate.

Schrank, A. (2000). Urban bias, hinterland response: Social organization and export diversification in the Dominican Republic.

Sreenivas, T. (2006). Service sector in Indian economy. New Delhi: Discovery Publishing House.

Tobi, D. (1989). The relevance of Lipton’s urban bias thesis to Nigeria: A critical analysis. Ibadan: Nigerian Institute of Social and Economic Research.

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