In The News

The End of China's One-Child Policy?

August 10, 2011
China has lost the will to enforce its unpopular one-child policy, largely because the need for enforcement has vanished. Europe and the US have long criticized the one-child policy, blaming it for China’s ballooning aging population and a gender imbalance. Fertility rates have gradually fallen throughout urbanizing and industrializing East Asia, and China is no different. China’s overall...

Libya Exposes Fault Lines in the Mediterranean – Part III

Joseph Chamie March 30, 2011
The United Nations authorized intervention in Libya, as protests continue throughout the Middle East. In a speech on Libya, US President Barack Obama noted, “The change that is taking place across the region is being driven by the people of the region.” In this YaleGlobal article, the third of a four-part series, demographer Joseph Chamie analyzes the region’s young people and their anger about...

China Considers Relaxing One-Child Policy

Tania Branigan March 24, 2011
Human-rights advocates have long railed against China’s one-child policy – and exemptions have gradually been granted to a limited number of families, allowing them two children. Warned about population imbalances and young adults overwhelmed with caring for aging parents without sibling support, officials quietly ponder how to extend a two-child policy gradually for all Chinese. One out of six...

Food Production: Agriculture Wars

Javier Blas, Leslie Hook September 13, 2010
A hostile bid for the world’s largest listed fertilizer company highlights the role of food production in a world experiencing population growth. For decades, an illusion of overabundance prevailed. But the global fertilizer sector has been a focus of merger-and-acquisition activity this year, as alarms over food scarcity, punctuated by short-term price hikes, renew interest in food production....

India Tries Using Cash Bonuses to Slow Birthrates

Jim Yardley August 23, 2010
India is the second most populous nation in the world, expected to overtake China in the next decade. Analysts study the two neighbor nations for how political systems and population policies contribute to growth or economic wealth: Nations with low fertility rates are generally wealthier, while younger populations are described as more productive. Fertility rates, varying throughout India, are...

The Age of Peace

Carolyn O’Hara August 2, 2010
Much attention is directed to nations with low birth rates and aging populations, blamed for diminished economic growth and strained government budgets. Another magazine, Foreign Policy, once even labeled the demographic phenomenon as a “Gray Menace.” But every cloud has its silver lining – and economics is not the only measure for quality of life. Developing nations with “youth bulges,” such as...

Population Explosion Scrutinized

Steve Connor July 14, 2010
Researchers increasingly link population with global problems like climate change and declining resources as basic as fresh water, and the UK national academy of science will launch a study on what others regard as an overused term and needless concern. Fertility rates in most nations are falling, but the planet’s population is estimated to grow from 6.8 billion to more than 9 billion by 2050 –...