256 i PERIOD 6 Accelerating Global Change and Realignments (c. 1900 to the present)
Population Changes
Rapid population growth, especially in developing nations, became a persistent concern
of the twentieth and twenty-fi rst centuries. Sometimes religious and cultural beliefs pro-
hibited efforts at population control. In the early twentieth century, efforts to eradicate
disease and improve sanitation led to marked population increases in developing nations in
Asia. In Africa, which began the century with low population levels, high birth rates and
lower mortality rates resulted in signifi cant population increases. These population trends
continued in spite of the high incidence of AIDS in Africa.
Despite advances in health care, those living in poverty continued to struggle with
diseases such as cholera, tuberculosis, and malaria. New epidemics emerged, such as the
infl uenza pandemic of 1918 to 1919, Ebola, and AIDS. The incidence of diseases such as
Alzheimer’s disease, heart disease, and diabetes increased because of increases in life expect-
ancy and lifestyle changes.
In Europe, the population decline and labor shortages of the 1950s and 1960s caused
Western European governments to seek workers from southern Europe and the non-West-
ern world. Many of these guest workers migrated to Western Europe from the West Indies,
North Africa, Turkey, and Pakistan. Guest workers received very low wages and were often
subjected to discrimination and violence from Western Europeans. This discrimination
heightened in the 1980s because of a slowdown in European economies and the growing
size of the guest worker population. Not all immigrants were welcomed. Xenophobia, an
intense fear of foreigners, often was shown in protests, race riots, and government policies
restricting citizenship.
In contrast to European demographic patterns, East Asian countries experienced high
population growth. By the 1980s, for example, South Korea had the highest population den-
sity in the world. As a result, many South Koreans migrated to other countries. The govern-
ment of South Korea encouraged its people to limit the size of their families, while the Japanese
government addressed its ever-increasing population by promoting birth control and abortion.
The People’s Republic of China attempted to control its huge population by institut-
ing policies designed to limit family size. In the 1960s, rural couples were limited to one
child and urban couples to two. By the 1980s, only one child per family was allowed.
These programs greatly reduced the Chinese birth rate at the expense of forced abortions
and sterilizations. Female infanticide increased. Other infants were hidden among family
members in rural areas where recordkeeping was not as accurate as in urban areas. By 2007,
the one-child policy had relaxed in some regions of China to permit urban couples who
themselves were only children to give birth to two children.
In Central Asia, the Soviet Union experienced ethnic divisions as a result of population
changes. By the 1970s, the Muslim population in the southern Soviet republics had grown
rapidly and presented a threat to the dominance of the Russian culture.Efforts to Improve Agricultural Production
One of the solutions to growing population concerns was to improve agricultural produc-
tivity in developing nations. The Green Revolution was a program that increased crop
yields through the use of high-yield, disease-resistant crops; as well as fertilizers, pesticides,
and effi cient irrigation methods. Especially effective in India and other parts of Asia, it also
experienced some success in Latin America. The Green Revolution was criticized for its use
of pesticides and fertilizers that caused pollution and cancer. Also, chemicals were expensive,
making the program more accessible to large landowners and agricultural businesses.