A lie spread for half a century: Is China's poverty caused by a large population?

There are many specious opinions circulating in the world, which at first seem reasonable and can confuse some people; But after careful consideration, we will find that these views cannot stand the test of facts. "China has too many people" is a widespread fallacy. Some people often blame China's poverty and backwardness on "too many people", saying that "China has 1.3 billion people now. If China's population is halved, then the per capita national income will double."

If so, in 1960, the population of China was only half of what it is now. Why did so many people starve to death at that time? In 1900, China's population was only 400 million. Did the Chinese people live well then? Let me analyze whether the view of "too many people in China" is true from several aspects

First of all, judging from the proportion of China's population in the world, as early as the Western Han Dynasty, China was already the most populous country. At the beginning of the 19th century, China's population was 400 million, and the world's population was 1.2 billion. China's population accounted for one third of the world's population. At the beginning of the twentieth century, due to the long-term war, China's population was still about 400 million, while the world population grew to 1.6 billion, accounting for one quarter of the world's population.

At present, China's population is 1.3 billion, while the world's population has reached 6.5 billion, accounting for only one fifth of the world's population. If we compare China with India, the relative population of China will decrease faster. According to the prediction of population experts, if the current population growth rate of China and India continues, the population of India will exceed that of China in less than 10 years.

Secondly, it depends on whether the population of a country or region is too large, not only from the total population, but also from the population density. For example, although the total population of Xinjiang is more than that of Shanghai, the area of Xinjiang is much larger than that of Shanghai, so many people say that Shanghai has too many people, while no one says that Xinjiang has too many people.

In terms of population density, China is 135 people/km2, South Korea is 470 people/km2, Japan is 335 people/km2, Germany is 235 people/km2, and Britain is 245 people/km2. It can be seen that the population density of developed countries such as South Korea, Japan, Germany, and the United Kingdom is larger than that of China, Why do few people say that "the population of South Korea, Japan, Germany and Britain is too large"?

Some people say, "There are many places in western China that are not suitable for people to live in." However, Japan also has many volcanoes and earthquakes, and few plains. Now let's assume that all the land of Japan and South Korea are suitable for human habitation, and only half of China's land is suitable for human habitation. Even so, the population density of Japan and South Korea is still higher than that of China.

Third, the so-called "too many people in China" cannot be viewed in isolation from specific historical conditions. For example, there are 1.3 billion people in China now, and many people say that "China has too many people". If China's population is only 600 million now, few people will say that "China has too many people". However, in 1900, the population of China was only 400 million. At that time, many people said that "China has too many people".

In fact, whether the population is "too large" or "too small" depends mainly on the level of economic development. It is precisely those countries with slow economic development and unable to provide full employment opportunities that feel the population pressure is high. But those countries and regions with rapid economic development, which can provide full employment opportunities, and successfully realize population urbanization, even though the initial population density is very high and the per capita resources are very few, when the economy develops to a certain extent, they feel the lack of labor force. The four Asian dragons in the 1980s and 1990s are an example.

Some people say, "The smaller the population, the more conducive to economic development." In fact, many countries or regions with high population density have high per capita income, while many poor countries are sparsely populated. For example, Japan and the Asian Four Dragons are one of the regions with the highest population density in the world, and also economically developed regions; In contrast, Africa covers an area of 30.2 million square kilometers, which is three times that of China, with a population of only 750 million. The population density of Africa is far lower than that of Japan and the four small dragons in Asia. It is also extremely rich in natural resources, but Africa is the most economically backward region in the world!

In fact, whether a country is rich or not is not necessarily related to its size or population. It can be seen from the ranking of per capita GDP of various countries that there are both countries with a large area and a small population and countries with dense population in the front.

Someone said, "During the Spring Festival travel every year, China's railway stations are always crowded with people. People are crowded on the train. It shows that China has too many people." However, why don't you think it is because China has too few railways and trains, but because China has too many people? China's per capita railway is only 5.5 cm long, less than a filter cigarette, ranking behind the 100 in the world.

Someone said, "There are many unemployed people now, which shows that there are too many people in China." If unemployment is due to too many people, why is Japan's population several times larger than Argentina's, and Argentina's area several times larger than Japan's, but Japan's unemployment rate is even lower than Argentina's?

In a country, if people only want to work instead of being a boss, even if there are only tens of thousands of people in this country, there will still be unemployment. The best way for a country to reduce unemployment is to implement preferential policies to encourage more people to become bosses.

Some college graduates are shouting "China has too many people" while trying to stay in the densely populated cities to work and live. Since they complain about "too many people", why don't they go to small towns with fewer people? Because big cities mean more job opportunities and higher living standards. More people means more job opportunities are created.

China's population density ranks 55th in the world. Countries ahead of China are almost richer than China, especially European countries. Japan and Singapore, which have higher population density than China in Asia, are much richer than China. Mongolia, which has the lowest population density in Asia, is the poorest region. Obviously, it is a huge lie to blame too many people for China's problems.