Abstract
This chapter provides a comparative picture of demographic change in China, India and Indonesia in a broader perspective and focuses on some of the major linkages and singularities across the three countries. It starts with a first section devoted to the state of demographic knowledge and sources in Asia, emphasizing the lead role played by national decennial censuses for monitoring population dynamics. The next section draws a broader picture of demographic growth in China, India and Indonesia and contrasts them with world trends. This analysis better illustrates the timing of the great demographic downturn around 1970 and points to the major difference between the three countries, and in particular to Chinas unique trajectory. The third part of this chapter covers the profound mechanisms of recomposition of the population induced by change in the basic demographic parameters. This includes the age transition, changes in sex composition, educational expansion as well as population redistribution. Social and regional disaggregation is again crucial for our understanding of trends since the most urbanized parts of China, India and Indonesia tend to concentrate all features of modernity: signs of ultra-low fertility, reduced share of children, favorable dependency ratios, higher education, heavy migratory influx, and record population density. We end this chapter with a section discussing the role of policies in shaping population change in China, India and Indonesia over the last five decades.
Original language | English |
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Title of host publication | Contemporary Demographic Transformations in China, India and Indonesia |
Editors | Christophe Z. Guilmoto and Gavin W. Jones |
Place of Publication | Cham, Switzerland |
Publisher | Springer |
Pages | 1-33 |
Volume | 5 |
Edition | First |
ISBN (Print) | 9783319247816 |
DOIs | |
Publication status | Published - 2016 |