IndexThe role of norms in societySolutions to overpopulation: effects of the one-child policy in ChinaExperiment to evaluate the total fertility rate (TFR)Effects of the one-child policyConclusion of The Effects of the One-Child PolicySolutionsWorks CitedEarth's population has increased exponentially over the last million years. Currently, society prejudices people who do not want to have children. Therefore, this societal bias serves as a significant incentive for couples to reproduce. As a result, this drastic birth boom causes the population to increase exponentially, leaving the death rate in the dust. Today's global population is about 7 billion people, but researchers hypothesize that it will grow to about 8 million by 2025 and 9.3 billion by 2050. However, this incremental population growth leads to a decrease in resources, land, employment and an incremental increase in over-agriculture, deforestation, pollution, disease. Overpopulation is a global problem that needs solutions. This essay presents one of the possible solutions. Population control has many methods, opposing theories and could have negative impacts on society. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an Original Essay At this point, there are many, many methods of population control. Plans include contraception, reducing infant mortality, one-child policies and family planning. The contraceptive method is very controversial among different religions. Moreover, this is the most popular method of population control. For example, Christians largely oppose this way of population control. Furthermore, this method, if applied incorrectly, can have negative effects on the mother. High infant mortality is also a factor causing overpopulation in some parts of the world. This method is used only in developing countries; such parents want to ensure that at least some of their children can become adults. Scientists hypothesize that decreasing infant mortality could reduce population growth. The one-child policy is widely used by China to control the population and was later abolished in 2015. This policy limits the couple to having only one child. The Role of Norms in Society Throughout history, it is the community norm for couples to have children. Additionally, the nation also places significant emphasis on the mentality that “every couple needs to have a child.” For example, Christianity professes that mentality through its beliefs and ideals. Quiverfull is a theological perspective of conservative Christians; supports procreation, abstaining from any form of birth control, family planning and sterilization. The foundation of this religious theory is in Psalms 127:3-5; exemplifies that "children are the inheritance of the Lord and the child is a gift of God". Therefore, Quiverfull adherents refrain from any attempts to regulate fertility as a usurpation of divine power and providence. Overall Quiverfull believers support the idea that every child is a blessing and cannot be considered financially burdensome. This mentality, combined with society's morality, stigmatizes many childless couples in the nation. At this point, there are many cases where society puts mental pressure and stress on couples who are hesitant to have children for many reasons to have children. A website called LivesSciencepresents a research study published by Purdue University; states that “What is notable about our findings is the moral outrage that participants reported feeling toward a stranger who decided not to have children,” says Leslie Ashburn-Nardo, associate professor of psychology. In this regard, many societies ridicule childless couples because they do not have children. This finding demonstrates that most people view parenting as a moral initiative. For example, when I was a child in India, I would often hear my mother scold my father about how today's society puts so much mental pressure and community control on the mother if she cannot have children for health reasons. As a result, the suicide rate has skyrocketed due to the mental pressure placed on them by society. For example, a website called academic.oup.com sheds light on suicide rates due to infertility in Denmark; it exemplifies that "suicide was the cause of death for 92 women (7.1% of all deaths), the majority among women who did not have children after fertility evaluation." This evidence demonstrates that society exerts enormous mental pressure on childless couples, particularly women, causing them to experience a feeling of hopelessness, lack of unity, lack of meaning in life, loss of control and social isolation leading to depression or to suicide. Solutions to Overpopulation: Effects of the One-Child Policy in China China is one of the leading countries in using various population methods, especially the one-child system. Civil rights organizations and various religions have not widely embraced this policy. The Chinese government adopted the one-child policy in 1979. It enforced the one-child policy through various sanctions and financial incentives. The government also used draconian measures, including forced abortions and sterilizations for those who violated the law. There are many negative effects on society due to the implementation of the one-child policy. Early on, the Chinese government took measures that promoted the practice of a family planning method to control birth rates. In the article Assessing the Impact of “China's One-Child Policy: A Synthetic Control Approach Analyzes the Effects of China's One-Child Policy” it is stated that “the Chinese government has widely promoted the practice of 'later-less -long' among couples, referring respectively to later marriages and pregnancies, longer intervals between births, and fewer children.' The rules were particularly stricter in urban areas with respect to women up to 25 years of age and men up to 28 years of age and established the obligation for couples to have fewer than two children. However, this plan was discarded as it was considered insufficient in controlling the population because it did not reach the official quota. Experiment evaluating the total fertility rate (TFR) A research proposed by Abadie consisted of creating a synthetic China to study the negative effects on the one-child policy from 1973 to 1979 foreseeing compliance with the total fertility rate (TFR) of the period post-intervention. Experiments evaluate TFR by including similar countries such as India to create synthetic China. The research exemplifies an interesting observation “…providing indirect evidence on the common suspicion that fertility rate statistics may have been 'too low' and therefore the fertility effect of the 1979 policy may have been overestimated.” Furthermore, the graph showing the TFR of synthetic China was drastically lower than the data provided by the Sixth Census. As a result, there may be a lot of speculation about thebecause this could happen. One example is that this simulation does not take hidden children into account. To validate the data, they performed a permutation test. They performed this test by randomly selecting 500 countries, and each of these countries was treated based on observations from 1873 and 1879. This test indicates that the one-child policy substantially reduced the population by 85 million. There are several drawbacks to this experiment. A significant drawback is stated: “Are China's size, complexity, political and economic system so unique that it is possible to create a 'synthetic China'?” This is a disadvantage because Synthetic China is a method of drawing similarities between different countries and evaluating the impact of the 1873 policies by subjecting different countries to the one-child system administered by China. Furthermore, this is quite problematic because each country is complex and cannot be subjected to the same policy due to the political and economic system of each country. Giel states that this was a more systematic, transparent and workable system rather than simply relying on a single comparator (country). Effects of the One Child Policy One negative effect of population control in China is the impact on the economy. In the article titled “A Comparative Analysis of Population Control Policies in China and India” by Min Kyung Kim which analyzes the negative effects on the Chinese economy, he states that “One of the main side effects is that China is faced with a rapid aging [ageing] and rapid contraction of its workforce' As the one-child policy reduces the birth rate, it consequently inversely increases the number of elderly citizens. Furthermore, this policy is exponentially decreasing the pool of workers young and unskilled people working in factories. This method causes great harm to China's economy because China's economy is mainly based on import and export. Furthermore, the article also shares that this policy reduces career opportunities for young people; and many companies hesitate to hire young men and women because they want to avoid multiple maternity and paternity leaves and also do not want to pay for those leaves. Another significant side effect is gender imbalance. The article states that “…strong cultural preference for males in China leads to abortion of female fetuses.” Furthermore, I believe that the commodity economy in China also leads to the abortion of female fetuses. To illustrate, an average family in China most likely owns a business, and many Asian cultures require a son to inherit his father's business; since the one-child policy limits a couple to giving birth to only one child; therefore, leading a family to favor the male fetus and abort the female fetus. Conclusion on the Effects of the One-Child Policy China's one-child policy has significantly reduced the population. The government said it had averted around 400 million births thanks to the one-child policy, but at a high cost. The only child has been cited as the main cause of the reduction in the workforce and the imbalance in the gender ratio. To stop this declining trend and correct the effects caused by the one-child policy, the Chinese government decided to stop the one-child plan in 2015 and implement the two-child policy. This policy limits couples to giving birth to two children. There are a couple of advantages of this policy; reduces abortion rates of female fetuses due to male preference. Furthermore, this policy also increases China's workforce because the workforce is regularly supplied by more people thanksto this policy. Solutions There are many solutions to overpopulation besides the one-child policy and contraception. One solution to overpopulation includes destigmatizing childless couples. As for longevity, the destigmatization of childless couples will cause a decline in the population because young couples around the world are hesitant to have children for various reasons. As destigmatizing childless couples would alleviate the mental pressure placed on them by society. Furthermore, this act could also be an encouragement for couples who are hesitant to have children to remain childless for the rest of their lives. This act will not have significant consequences compared to other methods of population control. Furthermore, the benefits far outweigh the consequences. The first step in implementing this method is for family members to move away from this mentality that "every couple needs to have children" and accept that some of their children do not want to have children and support their position in this situation . problem, don't do the opposite. In some families, they isolate and pressure their children who do not want to have children and, even worse, exclude them for the rest of their lives. This immense and constant mental pressure and environment can cause increased rates of depression, which could lead to increased rates of suicide. Furthermore, to speed up this process, many religious institutions should accept and spread the word that “couples are not obligated to have children, and it is based solely on their choice.” This message would put an end to those religious families who expect their children to have children and, as a result, eliminate the immense mental stress placed on the child. This mindset would emphasize the message that they are accepted regardless of their position on this pressing issue because most of the mental pressure comes from family. Slowly but surely, this evolved mindset could expand and spread from families to communities, from communities to cities, from cities to states, from states to countries, from countries to nations, and from nations to the entire world. Another solution is to reduce the infant mortality rate which is more effective than China. Kerala, an Indian state, employed this strategy through education around 1952. It also became the first country to have population control. Also, population control in India is not as strictly enforced as in China, so the sex ratio is quite balanced. The article analyzes the population control method; it is stated that “The male literacy rate in Kerala has the highest literacy rate of 96.11% while the female literacy rate is 92.07%…”. The high literacy rates in Kerala are the result of consistent state funding and investment in education and healthcare. Since women have better knowledge, they are likely to maintain their health; this method is directly related to declining infant mortality rates, and reducing infant mortality rates causes declining birth rates. As children survive, families need to have a couple of children to replace those who die. Therefore, high literacy rates, especially among women, have caused a decline in births. Furthermore, there are many advantages to this method. For example, there will be no negative impact on the economy like the one-child policy, as there would be a constant flow of young blood entering the workforce. Furthermore, there will not be a skewed sex ratio because this method does not limit the number of children a couple has"./26/9/2401/720295.