Page 572 - Sociology and You

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Unit 5 Social Change
European countries, such as Germany, have been very successful in controlling population growth through family planning.
family planning
the voluntary use of population control methods
Since the middle of the twentieth century, however, more (but certainly not all) governments have come to view high birth rates as a threat to their national well being. By 1990, most countries had in place formal programs to reduce birth rates. Government policies for population control range from voluntary to compulsory.
What is voluntary population control? The voluntary use of popula- tion control methods is generally known as family planning. Governments that support family planning provide information and services that help cou- ples have only the number of children they want. Voluntary government poli- cies range from indirect means such as family planning education to direct means such as distributing birth control materials at health clinics.
Even when effective, however, family planning programs merely enable families to achieve their desired family size. Unfortunately for effective pop- ulation control, the desired family size in many nations is quite high. The average preferred family size (number of children) in African nations is 7.1; in Middle-Eastern nations, 5.1; in Latin American nations, 4.3; and in Asian Pacific nations, 4.0. In European countries, the average preferred family size ranges from 2.1 to 2.8.
How successful is voluntary population control? Family planning has succeeded in Taiwan, where the birth rate had fallen below replacement level by 2000. Taiwan’s family planning efforts were launched under very favorable conditions. When the Japanese withdrew from Taiwan after World War II, they left behind a labor force trained for industrial work. Consequently, the Taiwanese were able to use this advantage to build an expanding economy. With economic development came a decline in both birth and death rates. In short, the Taiwanese went through the demographic transition fairly rapidly.
India was a different story. Family planning there got off to a very slow start, and the country has been unable to reduce the rate of population growth through voluntary means. Family planning efforts failed because gov- ernment officials and family planners did not take the broader social context