Population Issues in China

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Population Issues in China

• With just over 1.3 billion people (1,321,851,888
  as of mid-2007), China is the world's most
  populous country.
• As the world's population is approximately 6.6
  billion, China represents a full 20 of the
  world's population so one in every five people on
  the planet is a resident of China.
• China's population increases each year by
  approximately 12-13 million people, a number that
  exceeds the total population of individual
  countries such as Belgium, Greece, Cambodia, or
  Ecuador. Annual population growth in China
  actually exceeds the current population of Ohio,
  Illinois, or Pennsylvania.

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• As recently as 1950, China's population was a
  mere 563 million. The population grew
  dramatically through the following decades to one
  billion in the early 1980s.
• China's total fertility rate is 1.7, which means
  that, on average, each woman gives birth to 1.7
  children throughout her life.
• The necessary total fertility rate for a stable
  population is 2.1 nonetheless, China's
  population is expected to grow over the next few
  decades.
• can be attributed to immigration and a decrease
  in infant mortality and a decrease in death rate
  as national health improves.

3

• By the late 2010s, China's population is expected
  to reach 1.4 billion. Around 2030, China's
  population is anticipated to peak and then slowly
  start dropping.
• In the next few decades, India, the world's
  second most populous country is expected to
  surpass China in population.
• By 2040, India's population is expected to be
  1.52 billion that same year, China's will be
  1.45 billion and India will become the world's
  most populous country.
• As of 2005, India has a total fertility rate of
  2.8, well above replacement value, so it is
  growing much more quickly than China.

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• China has to feed 22 of the world's people on 7
  of the world's arable land, which is a
  considerable task. Therefore, it is to China's
  interest as well as the world's that some form of
  population control is implemented.
• Thus, China's population growth has been somewhat
  slowed by the one child policy, in effect since
  1979.

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One-Child Policy

• policy that has been both successful in
  statistical terms and controversial in terms of
  its implementation.
• The implementation of the policy was especially
  harsh in the early 1980s, notorious because of
  forced abortions, infanticide, and strict
  penalties.
• While the one child policy is widely carried out
  in China's cities, it has been more flexibly
  enforced in rural areas and in those portions of
  the country heavily populated by ethnic minority
  groups. Throughout the rural areas two and three
  children per couple are common here also there
  is increased awareness of the need for population
  planning and a general willingness to have fewer
  children than was common in China in the past.
• Contraception is widely practiced throughout
  China in order to reduce pregnancies and widen
  the spacing between births. In many cases the
  so-called one-child policy can be best stated
  today as "One is best, two at most, but never a
  third."

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Beijing Air September, 2006
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Air Pollution I

• According to the People's Republic of China's own
  evaluation, two-thirds of the 338 cities for
  which air-quality data are available are
  considered polluted-- two-thirds of them
  moderately or severely so.
• Respiratory and heart diseases related to air
  pollution are the leading cause of death in
  China.
• Acid rain falls on 30 of the country. China's
  environmental laws are among the strictest in the
  world, but enforcing these laws has been
  difficult in China.
• The World Health Organization has found that
  about 750,000 people die prematurely each year
  from respiratory problems in China.

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Air Pollution II

• Chinas problem has become the worlds problem
• SO2 and NOx from coal burning power plants create
  a huge acid rain problem, and does not stay
  within national boundariesTokyo, South Korea,
  and Los Angeles are receiving the pollution.
• Expanding car ownership, heavy traffic and
  low-grade gasoline have made autos the leading
  source of air pollution in major Chinese cities

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• Emissions of sulfur dioxide from coal and fuel
  oil, which can cause respiratory and
  cardiovascular diseases as well as acid rain, are
  increasing even faster than Chinas economic
  growth.
• In 2005, China became the leading source of
  sulfur dioxide pollution globally, the State
  Environmental Protection Administration, or SEPA,
  reported last year..

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Air Pollution IV

• Pollution has made cancer the leading cause of
  death in China
• Air Pollution alone is blamed for hundreds of
  thousands of deaths each year. The Human toll
  (air pollution alone)
• 350K-400K deaths because of outdoor air pollution
• 300K deaths because of indoor air pollution
• 60K die due to water pollution.
• Only 1 of the countries city dwellers breathe
  air considered to be safe by the EU.
• the 2008 Olympics have China acting toward
  environmental improvements.

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CO2 emissions and global warming

• The People's Republic of China is an active
  participant in the climate change talks talks.
• It is a signatory to the Kyoto Protocol,
  although China is not required to reduce its
  carbon emissions under the terms of the present
  agreement. On June 19, 2007, the Netherlands
  Environmental Assessment Agency announced, based
  on an analysis of fossil fuel consumption that
  China surpassed the United States as the world's
  largest emitter of carbon dioxide, putting out
  6,200 million tons, to America's 5,800 million.

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Water Pollution

• Almost all of the nation's rivers are considered
  polluted to some degree, and half of the
  population lacks access to clean drining water.
• Ninety percent of urban water bodies are severely
  polluted.
• Water scarcity also is an issue for example,
  severe water scarcity in Northern China is a
  serious threat to sustained economic growth and
  has forced the government to begin implementing a
  largescale diversion of water from the Yangtze
  River to northern cities, including Beijing.
• An explosion at a petrochemical plant in Jiln
  City on November 13, 2005 caused a large
  discharge of nitrobenzene into the Songhua River.
  Levels of the carcinogen were so high that the
  entire water supply to Harbin city (pop 3.8M) was
  cut off for five days though it was only later
  that officials admitted that a severe pollution
  incident was the reason for the cut off.
• See Hertsgaard for various examples of severe
  water pollution

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• A dry river near Beijing, China. July 2007

Leading Chinese environmental activist and
journalist Ma Jun has warned that China is facing
a water crisis that includes water shortages,
water pollution and a deterioration in water
quality. 400 out of 600 cities in China are
facing water shortages to varying degrees,
including 30 out of the 32 largest cities.
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