How Government Policy Affects Birth Rates and Migration — Population | IGCSE Economics

Exam Frequency Analysis

Past paper frequency (2018 to 2024)

This topic accounts for approximately 8% of your exam marks.

stable

Low

Stable8%

Population structure, birth/death rates, and the economic consequences of changing population appear in Section B roughly every other paper; typically 6 to 8 marks.

One reason birth rates and net migration differ so much between countries is that governments deliberately try to influence them. A country worried that its birth rate has fallen too low uses very different measures from one whose population is growing faster than its resources, and immigration rules decide how easily people can move in at all.

Pro-natal policies: encourage births

Pro-natal policies aim to raise the in countries where it has fallen too low.

Common tools:

Family allowances and child benefits paid to parents.
Generous parental leave (maternity, paternity, shared).
Free or subsidised childcare.
Tax breaks for families with children.
Pro-family advertising and information campaigns.

Examples: France, Sweden, Japan, South Korea have all run pro-natal programmes (with mixed success).

Anti-natal policies: limit births

Anti-natal policies aim to lower the birth rate in countries with rapid population growth straining resources.

Common tools:

Family planning education and free contraception access.
Tax penalties or reduced state benefits for additional children.
Compulsory limits on family size (rare and controversial).

Examples: China's former one-child policy (1980–2015) is the most famous. India and Bangladesh have run extensive family-planning programmes. Most countries today rely on education and family planning rather than coercion.

Immigration policy

Used to add to or limit population growth via international flows.

Pro-immigration policy. Open visa rules, points-based skilled-worker systems, refugee programmes. Used by countries with ageing populations (Canada, Australia, Germany) to grow the workforce.
Anti-immigration policy. Tight visa rules, deportation policy, restrictive border controls. Used when domestic political pressure favours lower migration or when housing/public-service capacity is strained.

Immigration policy is usually the fastest influence on a country's population: changing visa rules can shift inflows within a year, where a change in the birth rate takes a generation to reach the workforce. This is why two countries with almost identical birth and death rates can still have very different rates of population growth.