Population Policies
Geography: Cambridge International GCSE (2027 Exams), topic 6.2.3
Pro-natalist and Anti-natalist Government Policies
Government policies, on how many babies people should have, can affect the population growth of a country. Pro-natalist policies encourage people to have more children, anti-natalist policies do the opposite.
Pro-natalist
- Pro-natalist policies are used by some countries to encourage couples to have more children.
- Pro-natalist policies can be successful but factors beyond offering financial rewards are normally more important.
- E.g. France had a pro-natalist policy (“Code de la famille”) that started in 1939.
Code de la famille
- Families were given incentives like:
- Paid up to £1064 for having a third child.
- Three-child families were given family allowances to increase their buying power.
- Mothers were given maternity pay (at nearly full pay) for 20 weeks for their first child and for 40 weeks or more for a third child.
- Preferential treatment when bidding for council flats with three bedrooms.
- Three-child families got a 30% fare reduction on all public transport.
- Mothers and housewives received a full pension scheme.
Anti-natalist policies
- Anti-natalist policies have been used by some countries to actively discourage people from having children.
- Anti-natalist policies aim to reduce the country’s population.
- E.g. China introduced the ‘One Child Policy’ in 1979.
China's One Child Policy
- Incentives:
- Parents of one child received larger pensions.
- Only children received the best education for free.
- Penalties for having more than one child:
- Parents had their benefits taken away.
- The family’s income was fined by up to 15%.
- Abortions became compulsory for a second pregnancy, and there was a lot of worry that many of these were forced abortions.
- The legal age of marriage was raised to 22 for men and to 20 for women, and they had to have state permission.
Impacts of the One Child Policy
- It worked. 300 million births were prevented and China's population has stabilised at 1.4 billion people.
- Problems:
- Accusations that China violated human rights with forced abortions and causing female infanticide because people would rather have a male child.
- The current ratio of men to women is 118:100.
- The current fertility rate (1.6) is below the replacement rate of 2.1, leading to an ageing population.
- By 2040, the ratio of worker to retiree will be 2:1.
Test yourself on Population Policies
What was France's pro-natalist policy that started in 1939 called?
When did China's One Child Policy start?
Which of these are incentives for families to have more children in France?