If each country had a two child policy

[Blackcat21]

Just an idea and my opinion, and fully aware I will probably get flamed for this.

The population is rising, not shrinking, and with that is coming ridiculous house prices, global warming, running low on natural resources and foods.

Health services are stretched and school classes are increasingly full.

Wouldn’t an solution to this be only letting per couple or mother/father have two biological children each.

I must admit, it does annoy me when some women go on to have 3rd, 4th child etc just because “they want to” or want a large family, love being with children or love being a mother.

Motherhood is a beautiful thing but it could be restricted to two biological children only.

Overpopulation is impacting the earth too much.

If this couple wanted more children they can adopt.
There are thousands of children in the U.K. and other countries each year wanting to be adopted.

Doing this could possibly tackle overpopulation but increase the adoption of children.

Obviously I’m aware there is problems of how to monitor this, what if a woman gets pregnant against her will, accidental pregnancies etc but not that is the not the point or idea I’m trying to get across right now.

AIBU to think this could be a good approach?

In some developing countries there are women who would love to be able to use contraception but their religion doesn't allow it. And they probably couldn't afford it anyway, even if it was available.

I'm not up to reading all this, but please, if you think the problem is that people are having too many children, take a look at current rate of births. Go to ourworldindata.org and look for 'children per woman' to see a nice map.

In the UK, we are running at about 1.74 live births per woman, well below the replacement rate of about 2.1.

A few very poor countries run much above that, but even they are reducing their rates rapidly.

Basically, the high birth rates of the late 20th century have to work their way through the system, which is taking a while as we're all living longer. Go and look at videos of Hans Rosling to see how it works.

Population will start to take care of itself by the end of the 21st century. If you genuinely want to reduce it before then, you are not talking about reducing birth rates, you're imagining something far nastier.

[quote DdraigGoch]The UK's fertility rate is only 1.74. This policy would be superfluous here (and in the rest of the developed world) as the number of larger families is heavily outnumbered by households with one or no children.

The solution is female emancipation in developing countries, particularly Equatorial Africa. Provide access to female education and contraception and the problem resolves itself. No need for coercion.

ourworldindata.org/grapher/children-per-woman-un?country=~OWID_WRL[/quote]
I agree with this. I've seen articles before that emancipating and educating women leads to a reduction in the birth rate.

I have 2 DC, but I was never really maternal, and although my ex tried pushing for a 3rd, I said no and made sure my contraception was firmly in place. I've also told my DC that they shouldn't have children just to meet the expectations of other people.

Definitely not.

The Chinese experience of forced abortions and abandoned or murdered children has no place in free societies.

I remember seeing articles about the "dying rooms" in China, where baby girls were sent to be cared for (but not properly fed) until they died, young. Do we want that? I doubt that.

How would 2 children be enforced?

The worlds global population will peak soon and then decline.

The only continent with a rising population is Africa.

The rest will have an average of 2.0 children per women or less, that = shrinking global population (except in Africa).

I saw this on a Chris Whitty lecture on population growth.

@IceCreamAndCandyfloss

Rather than limit the number of children per family which would be heavily opposed as state control etc it would be better to say no child benefits so people are free to have as many as they like but would have to support them until 18 with no assistance. This would limit family sizes but not take away choice.

happy with that

I have 4 kids, I am not entitled to any child benefit anyway.

Contrary to what some posters think, not every one is.

Am absolutely staggered that approx 1/3 of voters on this thread actually consider this proposal to be reasonable

Meh. The population will start to decline owing to ever reducing male fertility. I'm sure if we transplanted you to that future point you'd be blaming women for not wanting enough kids. You can't leave the future of the world only at the door of women.

@Blackcat21
Well OP. I clicked in because I thought your provocative but interesting and topical proposition might spark some rational back and forth debate and exchange of ideas on a topic that concerns the entire planet. But no. Mostly just outrage and how dare yous, totally missing the point. I’m not surprised you’ve left.

@ftm202020

We have 5 children because we wanted to. We might have another!

you are lucky. We had to stop at 4, as our finances didn't allow us to have more.

If you can have another one, you'd be mad not to!

I must admit, it does annoy me when some women go on to have 3rd, 4th child etc just because “they want to” or want a large family, love being with children or love being a mother
Soooooo because it annoys you, everyone should be legally limited to two only? How many women do you know who have 4+ children? Because I don’t know many at all.

Motherhood is a beautiful thing but it could be restricted to two biological children only
I mean yeah, it ‘could’ be restricted to any number. 1. Or 3. Or 4. Why 2?

Overpopulation is impacting the earth too much
Overpopulation in this country is because our elderly are living longer, our babies are not ‘replacing’ the elderly as they used to, they are living alongside them

Isn't child benefit limited to 2children anyway

The day will come when this will have to happen. The world population is growing at an alarming rate.

@MrsTreglowan

How would 2 children be enforced?

Pretty easily. State education and healthcare limited to two. No maternity services for more than two pregnancies. Tax people for third or subsequent children. That’s just off the top of my head, I’m sure I could think of more if I set my mind to it.

[quote Coronawireless]@Blackcat21
Well OP. I clicked in because I thought your provocative but interesting and topical proposition might spark some rational back and forth debate and exchange of ideas on a topic that concerns the entire planet. But no. Mostly just outrage and how dare yous, totally missing the point. I’m not surprised you’ve left.[/quote]
What proposition? The OP never bother explaining what "not let people having more than 2 kids" would mean to start with...

Goady and nothing else.

Sorry, with some exceptions!

YABU - bodily autonomy is a fundamental human right. When you as an individual start believing that you have the right to make decisions about other people's bodies/reproductive organs, you know you have stumbled into extremely dangerous territory. This police would by its nature be misogynistic - the exemptions you listed as 'not the point' would affect millions of women. And yeah, as others have stated above, overpopulation is a myth. Scientists are actually deeply concerned about the growing trend of people in developed countries having less and less children each year. It is having major effects on the economy and on work structures. It is unequal distribution of recourses that is destroying the Earth.

Pretty easily. State education and healthcare limited to two. No maternity services for more than two pregnancies. Tax people for third or subsequent children. That’s just off the top of my head, I’m sure I could think of more if I set my mind to it.

The government has already tried your approach by limiting child benefit to two. All it has meant is that more children are growing up in poverty.

@terribleg

it would be better to say no child benefits so people are free to have as many as they like but would have to support them until 18 with no assistance

If you're eligible for CB (not everyone is these days unlike the similar benefit in the past). For your 2nd dc it's £13/14 a week, are people really having more dc to get £700 a yr?

It’s not just child benefit, many won’t be working or just doing a few hours so will be getting UC or tax credits and help with housing costs as well as free prescriptions, dental etc. It adds up to a whole lot more than £700 a year hence the caps were introduced.

If there weren’t available, people would have to think very carefully before adding to the population. No one would be capped so no strict measures and better for the planet as there would naturally be fewer children born.

I agree Op that overpopulation is a serious problem. We might not all feel overcrowded, but there are only finite resources. And those we have are not distributed evenly.

Over than persuasion though, I'm not sure how we could realistically stop people from having children.

A lot of commentors need to do a lot more research into overpopulation, there are a lot of uninformed opinions and misinformation being expressed here.

Just out of interest where is this over population thing coming from? Every source I'm aware of suggests it isn't the case.

In all honesty it’s just a shit idea op.

I’ve got one child. I didn’t want any more and won’t be having any more, so wouldn’t have affected me anyway, but it’s still a ridiculous suggestion.

Equally though I also think it’s ridiculous when people who can’t afford them, keep having children and wish those people would give it a second thought. I deal with parents daily who’ve had 7, 8, 9 children and are begging our school to provide them with food parcels. Teachers and TA’s are buying and donating the food to make up the parcels and a month on mum’s pregnant again.
I do think as a society there is some education to be had.

This is a really embarrassing post op - you've not researched in the slightest.

@IJustWantSomeBees

Pretty easily. State education and healthcare limited to two. No maternity services for more than two pregnancies. Tax people for third or subsequent children. That’s just off the top of my head, I’m sure I could think of more if I set my mind to it.

The government has already tried your approach by limiting child benefit to two. All it has meant is that more children are growing up in poverty.

Limiting child benefit is a drop in the ocean compared with paying private rates for maternity services, all healthcare and education for a child. I’m not recommending it, by the way but any government could easily make it financially impossible for people to have more than two.