Population control: getting a grip on the growing concern
By Andy Soos
In this day and age most societies worry about too large a population increase. However, there is always another point of view.
Worried about its dwindling numbers, the Roman Catholic church in southern India is exhorting its flock to have more children, with some parishes offering free schooling, medical care and even cash bonuses for large families.
The strategy comes as India’s population tops 1.2 billion, making it the second most populous country in the world after China, and runs counter to a national government policy of limiting family size.
Historically, human population control has been implemented by limiting the population’s birth rate, usually by government mandate, and has been undertaken as a response to factors including high or increasing levels of poverty, environmental concerns, religious reasons, and overpopulation.
While population control can involve measures that improve people’s lives by giving them greater control of their reproduction, some programs have exposed them to exploitation.
In the southern state of Kerala, where Catholics have long been a large, important minority, church authorities believe the state’s overall Christian population could drop to 17 percent this year, down from 19.5 percent in 1991.
While they don’t have precise numbers for the Catholic population, they believe it is also dropping sharply.
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