Population Campaigns, Essay Example

Population campaigns have been in existence in many developing countries for several decades.  In 1952, India became the first developed country to begin a population campaign for family planning to control the population growth (PBS.org).  Many countries have developed these family planning campaigns in order to help control the socioeconomic consequences associated with a population that is beyond the ability for government to sustain.  The average of children per woman in the world decreased by 2.5 between 1960 and 1990, which shows that the population campaigns have made a strong effort to help control the population growth rate (PBS.org).  However, the population campaigns differ in many areas, and it is important to compare and contrast the countries of India, China and Kenya to examine their efforts at using print and electronic media and the results of their efforts.

There are multiple messages that these three countries sought to send to their people to help control the population growth rates.  First of all, India focused on promoting the economic and social benefits that people would receive through changing their efforts.  They promoted that the children and the family would both receive better lifestyles.  Furthermore, the government expressed through one poster that the country has limited resources and cannot feed or house all of its citizens.  Finally, the last poster expressed the medical advancements for women to have their tubes tied in order to eliminate fertility and procreation.  India was the only country that expressed population control through medical information.  Meanwhile, both China and Kenya also included information that showed how the family and children would benefit economically.  China was the only country that continually showed how happy the children would be with an overabundance of resources available to them.  While these three countries mainly expressed the same types of information, their methods were all slightly different and they concentrated on different points of emphasis more than the others.

Each country yielded different results from their population campaigns; however, all three of the countries showed significant signs of change within the population through these efforts.  “India’s total fertility rate has declined by more than 40 percent since the 1960s, and today the average number of children per woman is around three” (PBS.org).  Although these figures suggest an improvement, the problem still exists for India.  Current projections suggest that India’s population will overtake the population size of China as most-populous country by the year 2050 (PBS.org).  Furthermore, China is facing further problems despite the population campaigns that have made some improvement for population control.  Fertility rates have fallen to an average of about two children per woman, which is actually down from more than five children per woman in the 1950s.  However, the number of women in China that are having children has greatly increased since the 1950s, so the population growth continues to be a problem (PBS.org).  In Kenya, “the average number of children per woman has dropped to around four from around eight in the 1980s, which constitutes one of the fastest-ever national declines in family size” (PBS.org).  While all three countries have shown significant signs of improvement in population control, population growth continues to be a problem and must be further addressed in India, China and Kenya.

Population control continues to be a major issue in many developed countries where the population growth rates are ever-increasing and outweigh the availability of resources.  These examinations of India, China and Kenya have shown marked improvements in population growth rates since the 1950s, but India and China continue to face adversity in their efforts to decrease these problems.  Each country has emphasized the benefits of the family and the child through population control, but only India concentrated on the medical advancements as a reason for population control.  These similarities and differences show multiple ways to express the information to the general public, and while they each may be specific to their own populations, the problem continues to exist.  Further efforts must be made to help control the population so that all men, women and children are able to receive the resources they need to live an adequate life.

Work Cited

PBS.org. “World in the Balance: Population Campaigns.” PBS. Public Broadcasting Service. Web. 26 Oct. 2009. <http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/worldbalance/campaigns.html>.