• Social differentials in fertility or mortality or other aspects of population

• Social class mobility or shift from agriculture to urban, industrial employment

• Strategies to influence the above parameters

Governments have often taken action on the front of population, even without having a clearly stated and officially accepted population policy. For example, in India it was only in the year 2000 that the parliament approved a policy on population when National Population Policy 2000 was issued, but the government has had a long history of adopting measures to reduce fertility rate at the national and regional levels. Module 10 discusses that the Central government issued population policy statements at least two times: one in 1976 during Congress rule; and another in 1977 during Janata Party rule. In addition the policy statements of different departments and the various Five Year and Annual Plans have shown the government's commitment to check the growth rate of population.

PRONATAL AND ANTINATAL POLICIES

As the second half of the twentieth century witnessed the development of various theories linking population growth rate to development and environment, and both developed and developing countries have undergone significant changes in their demographic profile, population policies have largely focused on whether they encourage or discourage the prevailing reproduction rates. As far as mortality rate – the other vital component of growth – is concerned, everybody favours reduction in death rate and improvement in life expectancy. On migration, there has not been a consensus but most countries welcome those migrants who fill certain vacuum in their labour force structure and discourage large streams of migrants for the fear of declining cultural standards and overpopulation.

Overall, the countries may be divided into three categories on the basis of population policy: