Free essay about two-child policy should not be enforced

Introduction

The two-child policy has been a major topic of debate among the Demographists and Sociologists particularly in the wake of China adopting a one child policy in the early 1980s. The term Two Child Policy assumes different meanings in different parts of the world- in regions like Eastern Europe, where the population is on a decline, the two-child policy will be seen as a measure to improve the population growth rate and achieve stability. Whereas if you consider high population nations like China or India, the enforcement of two-child policy would be seen as a measure to control and reduce the population growth rate. Depending on their situation, many nations are considering implementing or are debating on why, when and how to implement the two child policy.
This essay tries to examine both the views- favoring the implementation of the policy and not favoring the implementation, analyzes the pros and cons and tries to find the common ground linking both the arguments.

The Two-Child Policy- Point of Views

As mentioned above, there are different points of views on the two child policy. Whereas I belong to the group which believes that the policy should not be forcefully implemented, there is the other school of thought- who considers the policy implementation as an effective measure to balance the population growth. Let us analyze both the points-

The two-child policy should be enforced

China, in the late 70s/early 80s implemented the one-child per family law, restricting the Chinese families to have a second child. They implemented this rule as a measure to reduce the population growth rate and claim to have prevented at least 400 million births during the period 1979-2011 as a result of implementing this law. But in 2014, China is facing the problem of a steeply declining population growth rate and combined with the low death rates, China is ageing at a frantic pace, so much so that the authorities are considering relaxing the law. This is just an example; let us see the factors favoring the implementation of two child policy-

Factors favoring the policy implementation-

– Better resource utilization- Lower population ensures lesser number of claimants to share the resources
– Demographic Stability- Speed up or slow down the population growth rate depending on the country’s requirement
– Retain ethnicity and reduce the dependence on migrants to get things running
– Improved sex ratio and enhanced focus on the well-being of girls and women
– Helps to balance the racial, ethnic and religious balance

The Two-Child Policy Should Not be enforced

Now let us analyze the other side of the story- against the policy implementation. The fact has to be considered that even countries like China who strictly implemented the policy was later forced to have a re-look. Also, the countries like Taiwan and Vietnam were able to achieve the same results as China by creating awareness among their citizens and without forcefully implementing the policy. The major factors which are against the two child policy implementation are listed below-
– Interferes with the citizen rights to decide on his/her family size
– In high growth countries, the restrictions might result in a steep rise in ageing population as a result of decline in both the birth and death rates
– Negative impact on the social framework is a high possibility- Abortions, Abandonments, Non- registration of births etc. are common practices
– Another big disadvantage of restricting the family size is a skewed sex ratio. This case can be prevalent more so in the nations such as China and India, where the society traditionally have a preference to the baby boy over the girl.
– Promotes birth tourism- a special case where couples travel to other countries to have their third child.
– Short term advantage- The law enforced restriction might offer only a short term advantage, will need a re-look at some other point of time

Comparison Table

The below table compares the two point of views against the common parameters-
Conclusion
In this essay, I have analyzed the factors in favor of the implementation of the two-child policy and factors against it. From the analysis done, it can be seen that there are common grounds on the claims from both sides. The two-child policy may be implemented to attain the demographic balance and ensure better resource utilization, but not on a long term. Even if it is implemented, this calls for periodic reviews and inspections and should be abandoned once the desired results are achieved. Also, more emphasis should be given on creating awareness among the citizens of the respective countries, which is the more natural way and ensures the same or better results than the forceful implementation.

Bibliography

Beijing. www. economist. com. 5 May 2011. Website. 22 December 2014.
Branigan, Tania. www. theguardian. com. 4 March 2014. Website. 22 December 2014.
Chamie, Joseph. yaleglobal. yale. edu. 7 January 2014. Website. 21 December 2014.