# population control **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [August 6, 2003, 2:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/population-control/193254 "2003-08-06T02:28:35Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 16\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![captainQwark](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e68b1a/32.png) [@captainQwark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/captainQwark)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2003, 2:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/population-control/193254/1 "2003-08-06T02:28:35Z")
This is a question for those who believe that the goverment should control population: What methods do y’all think the goverment should use? What about violating rights? If the goverment did enforce population control, would y’all be okay with yourselves being steralized? ---
**Author:** ![BrightNShiny](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7bcc69/32.png) [@BrightNShiny](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrightNShiny)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2003, 2:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/population-control/193254/2 "2003-08-06T02:46:41Z")
> [@](#): > > What methods do y’all think the goverment should use? Lethal injection. > [@](#): > > What about violating rights? I think this could be done under national security, but we might have to pass a Constitutional amendment. > [@](#): > > If the goverment did enforce population control, would y’all be okay with yourselves being steralized? Of course not. The government would be sterilizing people I designate, such as Carrot Top, Fred Phelps, and Jack Chick. I’m obviously not going to designate myself. ---
**Author:** ![Palo\_Verde](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/65b543/32.png) [@Palo\_Verde](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Palo_Verde)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2003, 3:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/population-control/193254/3 "2003-08-06T03:33:24Z")
::inhales deeply and prays for patience:: **captainQwark** , Is this in response to anything that has been said or implied on this message board or in the news? Is there any reason to believe anyone here who could possibly answer the question believes that “the goverment should control population”? ---
**Author:** ![Whack-a-Mole](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/whack-a-mole/32/141_2.png) [@Whack-a-Mole](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Whack-a-Mole)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2003, 3:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/population-control/193254/4 "2003-08-06T03:39:14Z")
This is a mighty dangerous path to tread for all involved. In practice the simplest method would probably to levvy a tax on children that rises sharply the more you have. IIRC this is what China does. Unfortunately you get odd results. In China boys are perceived as more valuable than girls. As such female babies are too frequently killed. If the parents can only have one child (or whatever it is) they want a boy (more children cost them money in fines by the government). IIRC China is starting to feel the pinch of this practice as they now have a decidedly lopsided division of males to females in their country. > [@](#): > > An alarming rise in the sex ratio of newborn infants in China suggests that increasing numbers of female foetuses are being aborted by parents intent on having a male child. > More than 116 male births were recorded for every 100 female births according to results of a national census which have just been released. > > \ > > The natural ratio should be 105-107 males per 100 females. The Chinese figure was only slightly above this norm 20 years ago. > > \ > > Traditional prejudice among rural Chinese in favour of male offspring has been reinforced by economic reforms which mean that sons can earn more than daughters in the new labour market. > > The official “one-child” policy increases the perceived value of male births although a second child is allowed in many rural areas. Urban middle-class families are also more likely to decide that “one is enough” if their first child is male. > > \ > > Some Chinese experts claim that there are already as many as 70 million more males than females in the country. > > SOURCE: [http://www.guardian.co.uk/international/story/0,3604,714412,00.html](http://www.guardian.co.uk/international/story/0,3604,714412,00.html) ---
**Author:** ![captainQwark](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e68b1a/32.png) [@captainQwark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/captainQwark)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2003, 1:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/population-control/193254/5 "2003-08-07T01:28:49Z")
bump ---
**Author:** ![Palo\_Verde](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/65b543/32.png) [@Palo\_Verde](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Palo_Verde)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2003, 2:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/population-control/193254/6 "2003-08-07T02:04:09Z")
This thread was dying for a reason. If you’re going to bump it, I hope it’s for a reason. If you want to push it to the top, you could do so by answering my questions: > [@](#): > > Is this in response to anything that has been said or implied on this message board or in the news? > > Is there any reason to believe anyone here who could possibly answer the question believes that “the goverment should control population”? ---
**Author:** ![captainQwark](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e68b1a/32.png) [@captainQwark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/captainQwark)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2003, 2:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/population-control/193254/7 "2003-08-07T02:10:39Z")
I’m sorry. I’ll let it die ---
**Author:** ![Shade](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/2bfe46/32.png) [@Shade](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shade)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2003, 11:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/population-control/193254/8 "2003-08-07T11:28:29Z")
Not necessarily, just put some thought into it. Make a case for both sides. We do have some population control, eg. advocation of birth control, free condoms, etc. Taxing children would be a further step (though hard to justify in some sense - it’s not the child’s fault.) At some point the government may have to step in and sterilize people. I hope not, but supposing the population just went on going up (as it has a tendancy to do) people would have to start limiting their reproduction at some point before we start starving, or going to war. ---
**Author:** ![stick\_monkey](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/258eb7/32.png) [@stick\_monkey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/stick_monkey)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2003, 1:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/population-control/193254/9 "2003-08-07T13:02:43Z")
I think we should switch from the idea of using contraceptives (condoms, abortion, et cetera) as birth control and instead make cannibalism legal. It would also have a side benefit of feeding at least some of ‘the hungry’. ---
**Author:** ![Lissa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/85f322/32.png) [@Lissa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lissa)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2003, 2:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/population-control/193254/10 "2003-08-07T14:11:17Z")
If population control was necessary, just start heavily taxing those who decided to have children while giving tax-breaks to those who didn’t. ---
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2003, 2:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/population-control/193254/11 "2003-08-07T14:20:37Z")
Heck, teach all the women to read and raise the standard of living for everyone. Birth rates will fall dramatically, possibly even below replacement rates, as it has in some of the western democracies. ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2003, 2:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/population-control/193254/12 "2003-08-07T14:27:01Z")
Why would the US government have to employ population control? Our birth rate here is down, and soon (like it has in some European countries), it’ll eventually go into shrinkage. Population growth follows some pretty recognizable trends, and as **Bryan Ekers** says, when the standard of living, literacy, education and such things go up, birth rates go down. No need for the government to get involved in that way (although I do think it should promote safe sex and such). In less industrialized countries, or ones with problems like India and China, the government needs to take a more active role than it would in the US, but forced sterilization shouldn’t be part of that role in my opinion. ---
**Author:** ![Palo\_Verde](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/65b543/32.png) [@Palo\_Verde](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Palo_Verde)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2003, 3:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/population-control/193254/13 "2003-08-07T15:13:24Z")
The U.S. currently has a birth rate below replacemnt levels (I’ll find a cite for that if requested). Our population level is growing due to people living longer and immigration. If you want to stop the growth in the total number of people in the US, just cut back on immigration. Simpler than sterilizing folks. ---
**Author:** ![Palo\_Verde](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/65b543/32.png) [@Palo\_Verde](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Palo_Verde)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2003, 4:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/population-control/193254/14 "2003-08-07T16:35:45Z")
Great article on population at this site (a NY Times article) "There is no longer a single country in Europe where people are having enough children to replace themselves when they die. Italy recently became the first nation in history where there are more people over the age of 60 than there are under the age of 20. This year Germany, Greece and Spain will probably all cross the same eerie divide. " "Even in the developing world, where overcrowding remains a major cause of desperation and disease, the pace of growth has slowed almost everywhere. Since 1965, according to United Nations population data, the birth rate in the Third World has been cut in half – from 6 children per woman to 3. In the last decade alone, for example, the figure in Bangladesh has fallen from 6.2 children per woman to 3.4. That’s a bigger drop than in the previous two centuries. " In just one generation “more than two thirds of all countries are at or below the replacement level.” But of course this all depends on where you are. In parts of Italy the birth rate is less than one chld per woman. However, the fertility rate of Palestinians in the Gaza Strip has soared to 8.8 children per woman." ---
**Author:** ![Palo\_Verde](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/65b543/32.png) [@Palo\_Verde](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Palo_Verde)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2003, 4:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/population-control/193254/15 "2003-08-07T16:37:26Z")
Oops. Link [http://www.mtholyoke.edu/acad/intrel/gray.htm](http://www.mtholyoke.edu/acad/intrel/gray.htm) ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2003, 10:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/population-control/193254/16 "2003-08-07T22:33:58Z")
> [@](#): > > In just one generation “more than two thirds of all countries are at or below the replacement level.” I wish there was a figure for the amount of people here, not countries. I think right now, the world’s population is expected to rise through the middle or late/middle part of this century, and then begin to decrease.