Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words - 5

Assignment Example Some of these programs have shown great success, while others have not. The purpose of this paper is to examine specific population issues in China, India, and Japan and to determine what practices are currently working, and what still remains to be done. China China is now well over a population of 1.4 billion people and it continues to grow. This amounts to a staggering figure of twenty percent of the global population. Because of this China, is now facing serious social and economic problems as a result of this burgeoning population. Population strain has lead to a depletion of land and natural resources, caused severe pollution problems, and had lead to deplorable living conditions amongst the poorest of the Chinese people (Qu, Cui, Yan, Peng, & Zhang, 2011, p. 2077). One can say, however, that the Chinese government saw these problems coming and have worked feverishly to do something about it. In 1979, China implemented the famous one-child policy. Beyond one child, families wou ld be taxed up to 50% of their income or possibly lose their employment, making it unlikely that many would violate the policy. In the end, families who agreed to have only one child would receive certain benefits. Women who got pregnant without authorization or by accident were encouraged to terminate their pregnancy. The result of this program has been mixed. Fearing punishment, many government official falsified population reports, leading to estimates that the number of births reported in China may be off by as many as twenty-seven percent. In the end, population growth has slowed somewhat, but at great costs. There have been political consequences, as many Western countries have criticized China for the policy, particularly their views on birth control and the rampant termination of pregnancies. China has, however, seen tremendous economic growth in recent years, but many fear that there will soon be an imbalance of males and females in the country. This is a result of many Chi nese families working to have a male as their only child, causing an imbalance in the ratio of males to females (Fischer, Winiwarter, Cao, & Ermolieva, 2012, p. 246). If this continues, there will be a reversal in population growth as time goes on, making it difficult for the younger generation to support a growing and sizeable elderly population. India Like China, overpopulation in India a serious concern and one that needs to be addressed. Unlike China, however, India has been able to do little to reverse the trend. India still has the majority of its population living in abject poverty. Add to this the fact that India has not progressed much in the way of feminine rights in recent decades, and one can easily see why the population has gotten out of control (Bloom, et. al., 2010, p. 18). The government has attempted through the years to reduce population growth, but most have not succeeded to any great extent. The ironic part of this problem is that India has sufficient land size and a lot of agricultural potential to support the over one billion that live there. The reality is, however, that the resources are not equally distributed and that a majority of the people of India is not having their basic needs being met. Indian, being faced with the reality that they simply cannot handle the population growth that is occurring, has attempted to