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Population Policies Definition

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Emily Atamelang Atty
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14 views6 pages

Population Policies Definition

NOTES

Uploaded by

Emily Atamelang Atty
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Population Policies Definition

A major aspect of a country is its population size. Overpopulation can lead to over-consumption
and increased pressures on resources and services such as health care and education. On the other
hand, a population can also become underpopulated, which is often unsustainable and can lead to
economic loss due to the fact there are fewer adults of working age in the population.
Therefore, many governments use population policies as a way to combat overpopulation and
underpopulation. But what are population policies?
Population policies, implemented by governments, are a series of actions that are introduced to a country
to adjust the county’s population size. This may be encouraging the population size to increase or
attempting to limit the population size.

Characteristics of Population Policies


A government will examine its past and present population demographics in order to predict
future population demographic trends/changes. This aids in determining the optimum
population size for the resources a country has. This will lead to the most suitable population
policies being chosen for the country. Different population policies have different
components. Therefore, three main elements are considered when deciding on a population
policy, these are fertility, mortality, and migration.
Fertility
Fertility is one of the main elements used in population policies. For example, increasing
population size by encouraging births or limiting population size by discouraging births. This
is mostly done through propaganda and incentives.

Mortality
Another element of population policy is mortality. When a population is considered too low,
governments aim to reduce mortality rates, to keep the population numbers high for as long as
possible. This is done by improving national health care, which also increases the chance of
survival for children under 5 years of age. This is called the Infant Mortality Rate (IMR), and
helps to increase the population when mortality rates are high.
Migration
A further element of population policies is migration, which is used to regulate populations.
This is done through incentives for inward migration (which can be internal or external), or
even limiting migration through border control.
Motivations for migration can include tax incentives, subsidies, investments, and work
permits for migrants.

Objectives of Population Policies


Objectives vary for different population sizes, depending on the outcome the policy is
attempting to achieve. The main objectives of a population policy are to increase population
size or decrease population size.
Increasing a Population Size
A country with an aging population will have many elderly members in the population, and
therefore, fewer people that are of suitable working age. This is concerning for a government,
as countries require working adults to help contribute to the economy. Therefore, in an attempt
to resolve this issue, a population policy that aims to increase the population will be
implemented. An example of an aging population will be discussed later.

Decreasing a Population Size


On the other hand, a country that already has a high population will place increasing pressure
on services and resources. As a consequence, it will likely see the introduction of a
population policy that attempts to reduce the growing population size.

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