China, Mexico, and India have adopted policies encouraging family planning, gender equality, and educational opportunities for women to reduce population growth, with China's one-child policy being the most coercive but now relaxed.
China, Mexico, and India have all made progress in reducing their population growth rates by adopting policies that encourage family planning, gender equality, educational opportunities for women, and access to contraception. In China, the controversial one-child policy, which has been associated with a range of coercive measures, played a significant role in curbing the population growth.
However, this policy faced international criticism for its human rights implications and has recently been relaxed. Mexico and India have also implemented various strategies for population control, focusing on family planning services and education rather than coercion.
Family planning education has proven to be an effective tool in many countries, as it can positively influence population growth rates and improve standards of living. Economic empowerment and gender equality further support a decrease in birth rates, as they provide women with more agency over their reproductive choices. Policies aimed at reducing fertility rates in high population growth areas—like the Mexico City Policy—demonstrate the political sensitivity surrounding population control issues.
So, the overall effectiveness of such policies can vary greatly, and while some are controversial, efforts to improve female education, health, and opportunities continue to be the most humane and successful ways to manage population growth.