Growth: Critical perspectives from Asia

5^th International Conference
13-14 June 2013 – Asian Dynamics Initiative – University of Copenhagen

The Population Quality Problem in East Asia

Panel convenors: Susan Greenhalgh (Harvard University), Tine Gammeltoft (University of Copenhagen), Masae Kato (University of Amsterdam) & Ayo Wahlberg (University of Copenhagen)

In East Asia, population has generated trepidation among governments and policymakers for some time. Much of this apprehension has been linked to population growth, as unchecked expansion of population is considered an obstacle to socio-economic development just as inverted population pyramids raise the specter of dependency burdens which can also negatively impact prospects of economic growth. East Asian governments have and continue to actively address the ‘population problem’ through family planning policies and programmes.

At the same time, there is one characteristic of demographic anxiety that seems to link a number of East Asian countries together, namely a concern that “population quality” will deteriorate unless concerted actions to counteract this are taken. Indeed, in some East Asian countries improvement of population quality (notably China) has been considered an essential component of overall socio-economic development. Notwithstanding considerable local, national and international controversy, governments in East Asia have over the last decades engaged with more or less explicit goals of improving population quality – through both reproductive and educational means. At the same time, fetal education guides, reproductive technologies, parent-centered educational drives and the like have generated localized quests for ‘quality offspring’. This panel aims to trace and examine the different ways in which concerns about population quality have played out in East Asian countries.