The world’s most populous country China is now troubled by the dwindling population. In order to increase the population which is continuously decreasing, new laws are being made in this country every day. Recently, the Chinese government had abolished the tradition of ‘bride price’, motivating the people of their country to produce more and more children and get married.
Now the local government is also taking many steps in different ways to make people aware against expensive marriages. As part of this awareness campaign, the local government of Daijiapu, a town in southeast China, organized a ceremony.
In this event, 30 women were called together, they were made to sit face to face and sworn that they would not follow the tradition of ‘bride price’ during their marriage. That is, this tradition will end. The officials also obtained signatures from these women and their families as proof.
The local government had also issued a notice on its website regarding this ceremony earlier this year. In which it was said that he hoped that people would leave such backward customs and cooperate with us in starting a new tradition.
The general public got angry with this ceremony
However, after the video of the ceremony went viral on social media, there was a flurry of commenters. People termed this move as anti-women. He asked why the burden of solving this problem fell on women. Some users commented that the authorities should organize similar meetings for men to teach them how to bring equality in marriage.
What is Bride Price
Actually ‘bride price’ is a tradition in China in which boys give ‘dowry’ to girls during marriage. It is also called Kali. Apart from this, the customs of marriage in China are so complicated that it takes almost a year to complete it. The process of marriage in China is so expensive that 10 times of people’s annual income is spent only on wedding rituals and customs.
Experts say that after the One Child Policy in China, the number of women decreased. After this the family members of the girl start demanding more money for the marriage.
This tradition has been happening
Opposition This tradition of bride price has been opposed many times. China’s educated people, especially those living in cities, see it as a patriarchal relic in which women were seen as property to be sold to other households.
The practice is so prevalent in rural China that many poor families have to save years of income before getting married, or if they do, go into debt for years.
Population These steps were taken by the government to increase
In many places in this country, it has also been announced to reward the government for giving birth to more children. Holidays are being given more to married couples. Apart from this, registration of children has also been started for the people living in Livin.
Why China is worried
Actually the population of China has started decreasing faster than expected. A recently released United Nations report stated that in terms of population By 2023 India will overtake China.
According to the World Population Prospects 2022 report, this is the first time in the last 60 years that China’s national birth rate has fallen to 6.77 per thousand.
This report has increased the concern of China because on one hand this country is dreaming of becoming the world’s largest economy country, while on the other hand due to decreasing population the number of people working here is decreasing.  ;
Reduction of working population ie young population means that the burden on health system and pension will increase in the country but production is decreasing. This is the reason for China’s biggest concern. If the population of this country continues to decrease like this, then the Chinese economy may be in trouble in the coming times.
compared to 2021 population, decrease of 8.5 lakhs in 2022
According to the report, the population of China has decreased by 8.5 lakhs in the year 2022 as compared to the year 2021. In 2022, the total population of China was 1.4118 billion. In the same report, it has been estimated that in the coming few years i.e. by 2050, India’s population will be 1.668 billion while China’s population will be 1.317 billion.
This policy was introduced to stop the growing population
The population was increasing in this country for years. The result of which was that the population of this country had crossed a big boundary line i.e. one billion people. At that time a child was being born here every two seconds.
To control this, in the year 1980, the government implemented ‘One Child Policy’. That is, in China, a couple was allowed to have only one child. The clear objective of this decision was to bring the growth rate of the population back on track.
Decreased population after 60 years
This is the first time in the last 60 years that the population of China has registered a decline. According to the figures released by China’s National Bureau of Statistics, China’s population in the year 2022 was 1.4118 billion, which was 8,50,000 less than in 2021.
Death rate more than birth rate
According to a report released by the National Bureau of Statistics, the birth rate in China in the year 2021 was 7.52 percent in China, which has decreased further in the year 2022. However, during the same period the birth rate per thousand recorded in America was 11.06 and in Britain it was 10.08 and the birth rate in India was 16.42.
The biggest problem of China is that for the first time in 2022 in this country, there were more deaths than births. At the same time, for the first time since 1976, the death rate reached 7.37 per thousand, which was 7.18 in the previous year.
Will China’s population continue to decline?
In response to this question, Shuang Chen, Assistant Professor in the Social Policy Department of the London School of Economics, told in a BBC report that in the last 200 years, many industrialized countries have gone through a period of ‘population change’. The graph of their population increase and decrease shows that at first the population of those countries increased rapidly and then the fast rate of birth and death turned into low birth and death rate. China is considered a ‘post-transformation society’ that has already completed that cycle.
Nothing can be said as of now. At present, it is being estimated that the fertility rate of this country will continuously decline. However, the way the Chinese government is encouraging its citizens to have more children by tempting different policies, some effect can also be seen.
India can replace China in terms of population
It has been estimated in the 2022 report of the United Nations that in the next year i.e. 2023, India will become the most populous country in the world, leaving behind its neighboring country. Looking at the results of the census, many experts have said that by now India would have left China behind in terms of population.
Talking about the population of India, it is being estimated that the population will increase in the coming years in this country. The population of this country will increase from 1.417 billion in 2022 to 1.515 billion in 2030.
Two reasons for the increase in the population of India
1. The fertility rate in India remains at a high level. While the treatment facilities here have improved in the last few years, due to which the death rate has come down.
2. Compare India’s population with that of China, which is currently a decade younger than China’s average. So, overall, India currently has more child births than China.
