Download Population Policies

Think About
What policies might help
address the population issues
in your region?
Population Policies
How nations have attempted to
increase, decrease and perfect
populations
Expansionist Policies
Pronatalist
 Incentives:

–

Penalties:
–

Subsidies, childcare, preferential
treatment
Punishment for using/teaching about
contraception
Propaganda
France
France

Post- WWII

Propaganda

Incentives
Total Fertility Rate (TFR)
Romania
Nikolai Ceausescu
Romania

Concerned with
falling birthrate

Economy

Racist
Romania, 1967-89

Methods
–
–
–
–
–
–
Abortion illegal
Contraception banned
Divorce very difficult
Monthly gynecological checkups for all
women
Some financial incentives for multiple
children
Punitive taxes for over 25 with no children
Romania: Results
 Short-term
 Big
rise in birth rate
increase in maternal mortality
 Huge
number of orphans
Critical Thinking

What makes for good pronatalist
policy?
Restrictive Policies
Antinatalist
 Concerned with overpopulation
 Incentives

–
Better resources, preferential treatment
– Access to family planning services

Penalties
–
Loss of opportunities, status
– Criminal prosecution
China

Under Mao, population
growth encouraged

Communist
government introduces
“One Child” policy
China
One Child Policy, 1979-Now

Families are “encouraged” to only have
one child

Incentives for one-child families

Punitive measures
One Child Policy, 1979-Now

“Where there are evil people who
actually sabotage or undermine the
policy of family planning, we must
mobilize the masses to expose them in
a timely way and subject them to
severe treatment by the judiciary and
related departments”
–
Government of China directive
One Child Policy, 1979-Now

Burden falls mostly on women

China in danger of having a shortage
of women
Critical Thinking

What makes for good antinatalist
policy?
Eugenics

“Perfecting” the
population

Breeding

Denying some
ability to reproduce
Brazil
Brazil

1890-1930

The “Whitening”
–
Pro-European
Immigration
–
Encouraged
miscegenation
–
“Brazilian Man”
Brazil: Results

“Race” is much harder to define

Darker-skinned people discriminated
against

Recent resurgence of “Afro-Brazilian”
identity
Sweden

1934-76

Forced sterilization
–
–
–
–

Mentally ill
Roma (Gypsies)
“loose” women
orphans
Over 62,000
sterilized