[The cases of China and Brazil]. / Os casos de China e Brasil.

PIP: Demographic developments and family planning in China and Brazil are described and compared. Postrevolutionary China was characterized by initial rapid economic expansion, followed later by recurrent agricultural crises. Abortion and sterilization were strictly forbidden. The mid-twenties was legal minimum age for marrying, thus increasing the work force. In the early 1960s, population control measures were introduced, legalizing sterilization and abortion, a trend reversed, in 1966, by the cultural revolution, which resulted in a baby boom and an enormous proportion of young women, today, in their reproductive ages. Various stages of increased government involvement finally resulted in a 1 family, 1 child policy adopted in 1978, coercing families and individuals to sign a certificate, severely limiting earning potentials and privileges, if having more than 1 child. By the year 2050, if current policies are being enforced, the population is projected to be 917 million. Brazil traditionally has had an intellectual pro-natality movement, due to its vast internal space, low population density and high economic productive capacity. By 1970, however, the economic miracle had passed. Child mortality and health problems became rampant. Democratizing access to contraceptive means and services, and the economic for migration to large empty spaces of the country were emphasized. The state assumed responsibility for providing contraceptive means instead of leaving it in the hands of private agencies. Brazil refuses to recognize simplistic rhetoric blaming population increases for all ills in the developing countries and espouses the position that planning for children, the more positive term for family planning, is a fundamental right of all human beings and should stem from free and informed choice by couples and individuals.^ieng