As China becomes increasingly wealthy, the country’s nouveaux riches want to have larger families and are
defying their government’s ”one couple, one child” family planning policy.
10% of wealthy couples and celebrities are having up to three children each, sparking fears of a population explosion. Officials say that its strict policy has prevented as many as 300 million births, yet it still has a population estimated at 1.3 billion - or 20% of the world total.
And now we are told that couples in richer countries should consider having fewer children as large families are not eco-friendly, according to the Optimum Population Trust. It says that if couples had two children instead of three, they can reduce their family’s carbon dioxide output by the equivalent of 620 return flights a year between London and New York.
I think this is taking environmental concerns too far, equating a child to the number of carbon emissions is ridiculous. It’s ironic that at the same time, some European countries are increasingly concerned about their lower birth rates, the impact this will have on their economic growth, and are offering cash incentives for families to have more children. For example, Sweden provides a mixed package of higher pay for women, flexible working for both parents and high quality childcare.
France provides a series of tax and cash incentives for those having babies. Other countries have also started toying with the idea of straight payments. Poland, where the population has fallen by half a million in the last six years, has recently passed legislation that will see women paid for each child they bear. In Italy, where the population could shrink by as much as one third by 2050, one town has started offering couples 10,000 euros for each newborn baby.
Despite this, the world’s population is expected to increase by 2.5 billion to 9.2 billion by 2050 - with almost all the growth taking pace in developing countries.
Meanwhile, back in China, already destined to be the world’s largest carbon producer, an issue it seems to ignore, many rich families are prepared to pay stiff fines imposed by the government for having a second child, with farmers facing penalties of about 5,000 Yuan (£350) or more than their annual income, to as much as 50,000 Yuan.
I believe that aid agencies should do what they can to provide birth control and educate those in developing countries about unwanted pregnancies. But other than that I don’t know what we can do. How can we deal with population control when each country’s needs vary so much?
