Development Issues in China

Development Issues in China

China is the second biggest economy in the world and it still develops with the rate 8.7% at the end of the 2009 what makes it the fastest growing economy in Asia and fourth on the earth according to CIA World Factbook. The China's economy growth is one of the most remarkable in the history but China slowly becomes the victim of its success facing a lot of crucial problems such as overpopulation, massive migrations, and environmental degradation. They are all more or less connected with China's demographic situation. Despite the biggest growth in the history, China's economy still can't keep up with rapid population growth.

With over 1.3 billion people, China is the most populous country in the world. When almost all MEDCs tries to increase fertility rate, China does everything to stop population growth introducing extremely controversial population policy. China seems to be the best example of Malthusian theory. However the food production has been increasing steadily since 1950, it can't keep up with the population which is estimated to grow by 375 million over the period 1995-2040. The usage of modern technology such us fertilisers, pesticides and genetically modified plants has substantially improved the yields but the biggest problem is the available land area. The average area of land per citizen is already 50% less than the world average and it is still dropping due to urbanisation and natural disasters.

Another effect of the overpopulation is unemployment. Every year 20 million Chinese enter the working age. It is a huge challenge to provide job for every one of them. In 1985 unemployment rate was 1.8%, now it stands at 4.2% (the data including rural areas says about 9%) and is forecast to rise even up to 15%. A quarter of Chinese graduates have problems with finding a job. The huge work supply cause that there is a great competition on the job market and consequently the wages decrease and labour conditions are very bad. Rising unemployment can...

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