Pronatalist & Antinatalist Policies (College Board AP® Human Geography): Study Guide

• Population growth rates can also be affected by political factors, including government policies:

  • to increase the fertility rate (pronatalist policies)

  • to decrease the fertility rate (antinatalist policies)

Pronatalist policies

• Pronatalist policies are used when a country provides incentives for people to have more children

  • The governments of highly developed countries with low birth rates, such as Germany, Japan, Russia, Singapore, and Italy have instituted pronatalist policies

  • Examples of pronatalist policies include:

    • paid maternity leave

    • free childcare

    • government tax credits

    • advertising campaigns promoting larger families

  • Examples of countries with pronatalist policies:

    • France offers family allowances, tax breaks, and subsidized childcare, with more support for larger families

    • Singapore gives parents a cash Baby Bonus

    • Russia gives ‘maternity capital’ payments to families who have more children

  • Pronatalist policies are expensive, and they often raise birth rates only slightly

Antinatalist policies

• Antinatalist policies are used when a country wants to decrease the birth rate and provides incentives for people to have fewer children

  • Countries such as China, India, Nigeria, and Egypt have instituted antinatalist policies

    • China’s One-Child policy is likely the most famous antinatalist policy, though the government of China has since reversed its policies

      • Introduced in 1980, it limited most couples to one child; it was replaced by a two-child policy in 2016 and a three-child policy in 2021

      • Effects included a sharp fall in fertility, a rapidly aging population, and a skewed sex ratio, as a cultural preference for sons led to sex-selective abortion and more boys than girls being born

    • India ran a forced sterilization campaign in the mid-1970s, which caused widespread anger; it now focuses on voluntary family planning

  • Examples of antinatalist policies include:

    • increased education

    • family planning clinics

    • free birth control

    • increasing the legal age of marriage