The Impact of Family Planning on Global Oil

In China, one surprising factor in mitigating the growth of fossil fuel consumption has been the widely criticized One Child Policy. Without this unpopular policy, the demand for foreign oil would actually be dramatically higher. According to the Chinese defense scientist Song Jian, before the one child policy was implemented, the average fertility in China was 3 children per woman and that the population would reach 4 billion by 2080. By forcefully restricting fertility to 1 child per woman, the government managed to slow the nation’s population growth. With 1.4 billion people today, China still has attained the status of the largest oil importer in the world, and this correlates with their surpassing the US in automobile sales. Nations often face difficult challenges in deciding how to balance development goals with other factors. This poster will demonstrate the importance of an expanded scope of factors in weighing these decisions.