Pro-natal and Anti-Natal Policies in China (LDC) and Singapore (DC) A. Anti-Natal Policies in China Background 1.

Peoples Republic was formed in 1949. At that time, population Information was 550 million. 2. The Chinese Government believed that having more manpower in the country gave more power and thus encouraged couples to have more children. 3. By 1990, the population doubled to around 1.13 billion. 4. China had to solve the problem of not being able to feed all these people and thus came up with the One Child Policy. Current Demographic 1. Population: 1,343,239,923 [1.35 billion] Breakdown (as of 2. Median Age: 35.9 years 2012) 3. Population growth rate: 0.481% 4. Total Fertility Rate: 1.55 children 5. Birth rate: 12.31 births/ 1000 6. Death rate: 7.17 deaths/ 1000 7. Net migration rate: -0.33 migrants/ 1000 8. Urbanisation: - Urban Population: 47% - Rate of urbanisation: 2.3% 9. Infant mortality: 15.62 deaths/ 1000 Reasons behind implementation 1. It was calculated that the optimum population for China was 700 million 2. However, even with 2 births/couple, the population would lead to a large population base of 1.4 billion by 2080. 3. This excess population could lead to problems in feeding the population 4. It also lead to problems providing education, health and transportation 5. The growth of cities due to large population also caused the loss of 10% of Chinas farmland Early 1970s: 1. The government used the slogan wan xi shao meaning Later, Longer, Fewer 2. This slogan encouraged people to marry later and this caused reduced number of child-bearing years. Couples were encouraged to limit themselves to 2 children. 3. Couples also had to wait until 25(males) and 23(females) to apply for permission to get married. Also, students and apprentices were not allowed to marry until they finished their studies. 4. However, these measures were not fast enough to really slow down the population growth that had already been built up End of 1970s 1. By the end of the decade, the government changed their slogan to One is best, at most two, never a third 2. The One Child Policy was launched in 1981 when the population reached 1 billion. 3. Chinas initial goal was to stabilize Chinas population at 1.2 billion.

Governments actions

Regulation of the Policy

Success of the One Child Policy

4. The goal was then revised to stabilize the population at 1.4 billion 5. With this policy in place, the Chinese government is expecting the population to stabilize to 1.6 billion by 2050 1. Young people needed permission to get married: 25 years for male and 23 years for female. Students and apprentices are not allowed to marry until they finish their studies. 2. The government monitored womens menstrual cycles. The use of birth control was required by the government: UID used for women with already one child. Incentives for sterilization after the birth of the first child. Couples with two or more children had to have one partner sterilized (women 80% of the time). 3. All pregnancies must be authorized: Unauthorized pregnancies had to be aborted. 7th, 8th or 9th month abortions are legal. 4. Incentives offered Monthly allowances paid to couples with only one child. Child entitled to free educational and medical services. 5. Penalties/ Disincentives Fine up to 15% of annual income. Couples forced to give up all privileges if a second child was born and had to repay any cash awards it had received. A third child denied free education, subsidized food, and housing privileges. A third childs parents would be penalized with a 10% reduction in wages. 1. Prevented about 300 million births since 1980. 2. When the program began (1970), Crude Birth Rate was 34 and TFR was around 6. 3. Been brought down to 10 (CBR) and 1.7 (TFR). 4. About 40% of Chinese women have been sterilized. 5. Only about 5% of women have more than one child. 1. Imbalanced sex ratio Male children are more valued. 120 boys for 100 girls (national average). Abandon or abortion of females. Missing female population as girls are not declared. 2000: About 900,000 girls were missing (0 to 4 years group). Only 1% of females are unmarried by the age of 30. 2. Psychological consequences: Currently around 70 million single child. 4-2-1 syndrome (4 grand parents 2 parents 1 child):

Problems with the One Child Policy

B. Singapore Background Information Current Demographic Breakdown (as of 2012)

1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8.

9. Reasons behind implementation

1. Singapore gained its independence in 1963 2. It is the 5th wealthiest country in terms of GDP per capita Population: 5,353, 494 [5.35 million] Median Age: 33.5 years Population growth rate: 1.993% Total Fertility Rate: 0.78 children Birth rate: 7.72 births/ 1000 Death rate: 3.41 deaths/ 1000 Net migration rate: 15.62 migrants/ 1000 Urbanisation: - Urban Population: 100% - Rate of urbanisation: 0.9% Infant mortality: ~2 deaths/ 1000

1. The population doubled form 1947 to 1970 2. Thie rapid population growth created problems like: - Widespread environmental problems - Shortage of housing - Insufficient educational and healthcare services for the people - Increasing pressure on the limited resources of the country 3. The Government however, wanted couples to have only 2 children. So the Anti-natalist policy was put in place from 1966 1970 4. Not enough manpower. Thus,, Singapore implemented the pronatalist policy in 2001.

Governments actions

Success of the Pro-

2001: 1. The slogan switched from stop at two to have three or more if you can afford it 2. Target of the Singapore government was to raise the population by 40% in 40 years 3. To overcome worker shortages, the Singapore government has encouraged immigration, but it is also trying to increase the population through raising birth rates. The government is doing this in a number of ways: - It has increased maternity leave by 50% to 12 weeks and it will cover the cost of maternity leave for the first four babies. This incentive means that parents do not have to worry about the security of their work if they decide to have children. - The Singapore government is also increasing child benefits paid to families. For example, the government will pay money into a special bank account of up to nearly $1000 for six years. By doing this, families do not need to worry about the costs of having children and can instead focus upon the benefits of family life. - The Singapore government has also sponsored dating organizations to encourage people to get married earlier and start having children. 1. Singapores population is projected to rise to 5.4 million by 2025.

natal policy

Problems with the Pro-Natal Policy

2. Increased immigration levels due to increased talent levels. 3. Proportion of permanent citizens increased from 74% to 82% from 2000 to 2009. 4. A slight rise in Total Fertility Rate to around 1.81.9 was experienced in the initial years following the new policy. 1. Purely monetary policies are unlikely to work given as the main factor is changing social mindsets. 2. Increase in fertility was short-lived, and fertility and births continued the general downward trend, despite additional incentives in 2001 and 2004. 3. Some companies are not entirely accepting since small workforce means missing employee which are important 4. Government attempts to change these mindsets are seen as overly controlling and decision limiting, making them seem artificial and worsening the situation. 5. The highly educated women and less educated men have more difficulty in finding more suitable spouses