Population Planning Policies - Ib Geography

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Jordan Alexander September 2011 Geography Essay – Population Planning Policies With reference to examples you have studied, compare and contrast population control policies from different regions of the world. In various regions of the world, population-planning policies have been implemented in order to control growth rates. These policies can either be to increase the growth rate (pro-natalist), or to decrease the growth rate (anti-natalist). In this essay, I will use the examples of East-Central Europe, India and China to compare and contrast the different methods used to control the populations. I will specifically discuss the methods used, the success of these methods and the way in which the methods were implemented. Along with these topics, I will investigate the effectiveness of these policies in comparison to their development, population size, culture, and education. Firstly, I will discuss the growth problem in East-Central Europe, and why they implemented population-planning policies. Specifically, I will be discussing the changes in the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Poland and Hungary, all of which were communist states. By 1990 (when the Soviet Union was disbanded), population growth was very low in these countries, due to late marriages and a preference for fewer children. Therefore, governments found it necessary to implement pro-natalist policies to encourage growth. The countries of East-Central Europe used various methods to encourage growth in the region. An important method used in Poland and Slovakia was banning abortions – an outcome of strengthening conservatism in these countries. Also, a very important aspect of the policies was financial benefits, including: child allowances, with larger allowances depending on the number of kids. Another important financial benefit was giving money to parents when they were on parental leave.
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