At the end of October 2011, the world's population exceeded 7 billion. The fact that China is the most populated country in the world is known to everyone, and this has been a fact since time immemorial. In the entire foreseeable history of human civilization, the population of China has always been the most numerous. It is no coincidence that demographic problems are becoming especially large here.
History
In the middle of the 19th century, every third person on our planet was Chinese. The most populated country in the world then had about 420 million inhabitants, and according to some estimates, 1.25 billion people lived all over the world. The problems of lack of land suitable for agriculture, despite the large size of this country, have always been relevant for China, but at a time when the majority of the population was engaged in agriculture, they acquired a gigantic scale.
Since 1850, a bloody war began in the Celestial Empire, which was unleashed by the Taipings,living in the southern regions of the country. They rebelled against the Manchu Qing Empire, on the side of which foreign armies, English and French, came forward. Between 20 and 30 million people died in a decade and a half. The most populous country in the world was able to restore its former population only by the beginning of another war - the First World War.
Rise of the PRC
The consequences of the war with Japan were not as catastrophic for China as the results of the Taiping uprising. Despite the fact that the losses of the Chinese army were eight times greater than those of Imperial Japan, the incalculable resources of inland China led to the fact that by the end of the war its population had increased to 538 million.
The war against Japan was replaced by a civil struggle of the People's Liberation Army of China against the Kuomintang. As a result of the victory of Mao Zedong's troops, the most populous country in the world continued to exist under a new name - the People's Republic of China.
The toughest demographic policy
At first, the new authorities supported the formation of large families. By 1960, more than 650 million people lived in China. But the extreme economic policy of the Chinese Communist Party, led by the "great helmsman," led to a catastrophic situation with the provision of food to the population. According to various sources, from 20 to 40 million people died from the consequences of the famine. But the losses were offset by a high birth rate, and by the beginning of the eighties, the population of China amounted to 969 million.residents.
One of the means to combat the shortage of agricultural products, Mao considered birth control. The CCP launched another campaign, now under the slogan "One Family, One Child." Under this motto, legislation was adopted providing for a system of harsh punishments for the appearance of a second baby in the family. As a result, population growth rates have declined in recent decades.
Nuances of statistics
Although today only every fifth earthling is a citizen of China, and the most densely populated country in the world is the dwarf state of Monaco, statistics only formally reflect the demographic situation. The number of Chinese on one km2 is 648 people, which is three times less than the number of Monaco citizens on the same area, but given the difference in the size of these two states, we can say that this demographic indicator in China is one of the highest in the world.
This is due to the extremely uneven distribution of residents. In some regions, especially in large metropolitan areas, the population density is several times higher than in areas where there is not even arable land. Bangladesh may indeed be the world's most densely populated agrarian country, but the ancient Chinese proverb "Many people, little land" is only getting stronger.
Prospects
The policy of limiting population growth in China is bearing fruit, however, giving rise to other problems at the same time - a sharp aging of the population and a growing disproportion between the numbermen and women. Although citizens have found various ways to circumvent second child bans - for example, women give birth in other countries where children receive other citizenship - the PRC government is ready to reconsider its tough population policy, especially in rural areas.
According to experts, by 2050 a different answer to the question of which is the most populated country in the world will become a reality. Their calculations show that the place of China may well be taken by another giant from developing countries - India. Even today, the gap between the indicators of the two states is not so great. According to statistics, at the beginning of 2016, 1,374,440,000 people live in China, and 1,283,370,000 in India. If we take into account the slowdown in population growth in today's leader and the steady growth of this indicator in one of the most dynamically developing countries in world and its economic potential, the validity of such expectations will become clear.
