China's population started to grow at a rapid rate in 1949. There were ½ a billion people in China and 2/3 of the population were under 24. This shows the increase of births had risen very quickly. There are a few reasons for this sudden rise in the population.
China is a Communist country, therefore, the more Communists that there are, the stronger they become. Parents were encouraged to have more children, and bring them up as Communists. This was a selfish reason for the population rising.
Chinese families preferred male children, as they would inherit the family's inheritance. The families name would also be continued. When males wed females, they inherit all his partners inheritance as well.
If couples didn't give birth to a boy, they kept trying. In China now, there aren't enough women for each male. One per cent of women under 30 are unmarried. This is because more couples started having abortions if they didn't have a boy.
In rural areas of China, families owned farms and needed workers for "cheap labour". By having lots of children, the parents had lots of younger people to do the hard work and also to look after them.
The increase of the population was very dramatic, it effected a lot of China.
Eventually, there would not be enough food or jobs for the population to survive. The urban areas were the most crowded areas, so people tried to move into rural areas, where they could get away from the policies and overcrowding. Many people had this idea, then the rural areas filled up and the crowding was just as bad as the big towns.
If there was ½ the population that there was then, then the people would have better health care and it would be better for China, financially. When the population was at 1 billion the population could be fed quite easily, but it was quite over-crowed. At the amount it is at now, 1.4 billion, there is a lot of poverty stricken areas and it is becoming a lot harder to feed everyo...