This is interesting:
Most people are aware that the Chinese government made it law in 1979 that couples were allowed to have only one child. Like many societies worldwide, the Chinese tend to favor boy over girl babies for a multitude of reasons. This governmental policy has created a situation in China that may cause a legion of social and political troubles in that region during the coming 20 years.
After the most recent census conducted in China in 2000, the discovery was made that the ratio of boys born to girls born had reached 116.9 boys born to 100 girls. In the poor region of the Hubei Province the ratio has gotten to a startling 130.3 boys for every 100 girls. For the purposes of comparison, the ratio in the United States was 104.8 boys per 100 girls during 2000.
What this all leads to is a terrifying imbalance in the population as
these groups approach the age where they would normally meet and marry their mate. The estimates about this imbalance range from the very conservative 29 million to a more realistic 40 million Chinese men who will NEVER be able to meet anyone to marry due to these very simple mathematics. Worse still is that many other countries within that region of the world are suffering similar imbalances. Here is the current "surplus" of men expected by 2020 in several countries:
China - 40,600,000
India - 37,100,000
Bangladesh - 3,500,000
Pakistan - 3,300,000
Afghanistan - 800,000
Taiwan - 600,000
Nepal - 600,000
If you are wondering why in the heck you should care about such a thing, then you have never spent any time around a bunch of young, single men who are unable to locate a girlfriend or wife. There is just too much energy and testosterone to sit around idle and play cards. These men are also likely to be the social outcasts who are too poor, ugly, unlucky or stupid to hook up with one of the highly sought after women. If you can imagine that they might be a little irritable and angry then you understand the basis for my concern.
Similar situations have occurred throughout history before and
governments scramble to quell the unrest before civil war breaks out. The methods that these governments use are surprisingly standard and predictable:
1) Start a war. During the Middle Ages Portugal found themselves in similar situation and sent all the unmarried, landless men off to North Africa to plunder and conquer during the Crusades. If anyone thinks this tension between India and Pakistan is going to just go away, then they are simply kidding themselves. Some sort of major conflict will grow increasingly inevitable, as years pass and it now appears that any such conflict may very well be a nuclear one.
2) Impose some sort of martial law. It unlikely that the government will allow any situation to become more unstable and will clamp down on any uprising with an iron fist. The idea that any of the countries listed above will become wonderful, peaceful democracies is an unlikely daydream.
3) Begin massive public works projects away from the majority of the population. China has already begun some huge programs in the vast Western region in an effort to keep these single men busy and away from anywhere they might start trouble.
4) Make them all police officers. This idea is along the same idea as the public works projects, but instead these men can be used to crush any uprising or social unrest. China is already well into making this a reality in the recent growth of the People's Armed Police, which is a paramilitary group used to react to riots or other disturbances. This strategy goes part and parcel with the prospect of martial law.
The United States and Europe have been spoiled with prosperity and peace for decades and the prospect of continued unrest around the world might be unsettling but it will continue. Worst of all is that many of these countries view us as immoral and their enemy, which could mean we may end up a target of their rage when they seek someone to blame for their misfortune. At the very least it is something to keep careful watch of.
