History Main / PopulationControl

There are a number of variations on this. Sometimes every couple is allowed a fixed number (frequently two); other times, the number allowed is tradable, luck-based, or determined by some kind of eugenic principle (parenting skills are less commonly judged). Enforcement methods may range from punitive taxes on extra children, through mandated birth control and sterilization upon the birth of the last child allowed, to outright killing of excess population.

* The movie ''Film/{{Fortress 1992}}'' has the protagonist and his pregnant wife try to leave a dystopian US after it implements a one-child policy to fight increasing population growth.

* This is the true purpose of the numbers in ''Manga/Plunderer''

* This is the true purpose of the numbers in ''Manga/Plunderers''

* In ''VisualNovel/TheLastBirdling'', Birdlings keep a careful limit on the number of births in their species, and any couples who have a child without permission are quietly executed. [[spoiler: This is because adult Birdlings feed on humans and thus need to keep their numbers low to avoid attracting suspicion and/or overhunting their food supply.

* ''Manga/{{DNA2}}'' has an extreme example, the future has a problem with overpopulance and a strict law was enforced that allows people to only have one child. Men who father more than one child ''get the death penalty''. When they found out that a mega playboy of the name of Junta Momonari had fathered ''100 children'' and had left behind mostly male descendants with the same potent DNA, he had already been dead for quite some time. They decide that instead of altering the DNA of those descendants, it'd be much easier to just [[TimeTravel go back in time]] and alter Junta's DNA ''before'' he becames a playboy and fathers any children. Which starts up the plot.

** In "Literature/TimeLag", Vaynamo has stablized its population, voluntarily. This incites anger in the conquerers -- Chertkoi is heavily overpopulated. Bors tells Elva that they can't hoard its resources; Elva retorts they should take the consequences of having bred like maggots.

* In ''VisualNovel/TheLastBirdling'', Birdlings keep a careful limit on the number of births in their species, and any couples who have a child without permission are quietly executed. [[spoiler: This is because adult Birdlings feed on humans and thus need to keep their numbers low to avoid attracting suspicion and/or overhunting their food supply.]]

* Rather violently inverted in Romania under communist rule. President Nicolae Ceauşescu outlawed abortion, birth control and sex education, and instituted a "celibacy tax" for women who failed to have children, with the goal of increasing the country's population. It worked, but it didn't end well. The generation he created turned out to be the one that overthrew him, ironically, as his government was unable to provide good education and jobs to all of them, leaving young people seriously disaffected. Many also were unsurprisingly unwanted by their parents and abandoned, with growing up in state orphanages not doing anything to make them fond of Ceauşescu.

To try to solve an overpopulation problem, governments may limit the total number of children a person or couple can have.

* ''The Last Child''. Each U.S. couple is only allowed to have one child. If the first child dies, they can't have another.

* ''The Last Child'' was a mediocre TV Movie set in the near future when couples were limited to only one child, even if the child died before puberty.

* The ''Creator/MarquisDeSade'' proposed limiting population growth to what the state deemed best by means of forced abortions as part of his book ''Philosophy in the Bedroom'', citing {{Creator/Aristotle}} making a [[OlderThanFeudalism similar suggestion]].

* China's one-child policy introduced in 1979 (before the policy was instituted, China ''encouraged'' births through the 1960's), although there were ''many'' loopholes (you could have two kids if you live abroad or, presumably, as many as you want if you emigrated ''permanently''; if both parents were only children; if you've divorced and remarried; or if you're an ethnic minority). Also, [[ScrewTheRulesIHaveMoney money helps]]. Eventually, China experienced the same "prosperity + improving women's rights = smaller families" formula as had happened in the West starting in the '60s and '70s - by the new millennium the one-child policy largely stood on its own institutional inertia. Combined with an ''equally'' inertial culture of misogyny, this led to couples aborting female fetuses and [[ParentalAbandonment abandoning baby daughters]] (who often ended up [[HappilyAdopted being adopted by western families]]) so they could try again for a son. This naturally came back to [[HoistByHisOwnPetard bite the country in the ass]] ''hard'', as now [[MarsNeedsWomen China Desperately Needs Women]]. China moved to a two-child policy in 2016, but 35 years of the one-child policy has left its mark on China's demographics - according to the CIA, China is tied for the most male under-15 population in the world at 1.17 boys for every girl.

** They had a variation for German policy. "Pure" Aryans were encouraged to have as many children as possible through public recognition and generous state benefits, while birth control and abortion were outlawed for them. Tens of thousands of others including the products of miscegeneation (i.e. German and Non-Ethnic-European biological parents, generally African) and those with inheritable physical or mental conditions were forcibly sterilized. Wartime radicalisation of policy led to the bulk of the disabled population (70,273 people) being secretly euthanised under the 1939-41 Aktion T-4 programme, including 5k under-16s. Ultimately Hitler seems to have envisaged permitting 2/3 of the German population to reproduce at the very most, seeing the other 1/3 or more as being unfit to ensure the future supremacy of the German nation.

* Rather violently inverted in Romania under communist rule. President Nicolae Ceauşescu outlawed abortion, birth control and sex education, and instituted a "celibacy tax" for women who failed to have children, with the goal of increasing the country's population. It worked, but it didn't end well. The generation he created turned out to be the one that overthrew him, ironically, as his government was unable to provide good education and jobs to all of them, leaving young people seriously disaffected. Many also were unsurprisingly unwanted by their parents and abandoned, with growing up in state orphanages not doing anything to make them fond of Ceaucescu.

* Some regional governments in poorer parts of India have introduced the "honeymoon bonus", offering money to newlyweds who agree not to have children. Also to young men who agree to get vasectomies, even if they aren't married.

* Somewhat inverted in the case of the Soviet Union, where there was a tax placed on being a bachelor. While it was not explicitly a pro-birth measure, the implication was that it would lead to more births. The idea was that anyone who didn't marry and have kids didn't contribute enough to the state and the people. After all, any child is a future worker/peasant loyal to the party.

* Britain has gone back and forth on a fairly low-key inversion by offering tax credits to less wealthy couples with young children and recently a tax credit for getting married, presumably to appease the [[GoodOldWays traditionalist wing]] of the Conservative Party after the legalisation of gay marriage. The cost of living is doing a pretty good job of playing the trope straight, incidentally; if not for the import of surplus workers from some of the newer EU members Britain might be in the same boat as Japan.
* Australia's "Populate or Perish" policy after UsefulNotes/WorldWarII, as a response to the YellowPeril. While a rise in the birthrate was encouraged, the main emphasis was on immigration as it would increase the population quicker.

[[folder:Live Action TV]]
* ''Series/SeaQuestDSV'' had an episode with an island nation where street kids were hunted by death squads as a population control measure, which was almost definitely based off the [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Street_children_in_the_Philippines Marcos Government]] in Real Life.

* Like the ''Series/SeaQuestDSV'' example above, the Marcos reign in the Philippines had death squads [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Street_children_in_the_Philippines unofficially target street children.]]

* ''Film/TheLastChild''. Each U.S. couple is only allowed to have one child. If the first child dies they can't have another.

* In Creator/CliveBarker's ''Film/ThePlague'', having ANY children is declared illegal worldwide, as a mysterious ailment has caused all children under the age of nine (unborn babies included) to fall into a coma. Until a cure can be found, producing more comatose infants will only exhaust the resources already strained by the need to care for so many inert children.

* The defining motivation of the Mad Titan Thanos in ''Film/AvengersInfinityWar'' and the entire Franchise/MarvelCinematicUniverse. He sincerely believes that he has to [[InsaneTrollLogic wipe out half of the universe's population]] in order to prevent even more people from dying due to a lack of resources and overpopulation. At one point, Thanos [[MotiveRant explains to Doctor Strange]] how overpopulation left his home world in ruins and he took it upon himself to wipe out half the universe to prevent such developments in future.

* The defining motivation of the Mad Titan Thanos in ''Film/AvengersInfinityWar'' and the entire Franchise/MarvelCinematicUniverse. He sincerely believes that he has to [[InsaneTrollLogic wipe out half of the universe's population]] in order to prevent even more people from dying due to a lack of resources and overpopulation. At one point, Thanos even [[MotiveRant explains to Doctor Strange]] how overpopulation left his home world in ruins and he took it upon himself to wipe out half the universe to prevent such developments in future.

* The defining motivation of the Mad Titan Thanos in ''Film/AvengersInfinityWar'' and the entire Franchise/MarvelCinematicUniverse. He sincerely believes that he has to wipe out half of the universe's population in order to prevent even more people from dying due to a lack of resources and overpopulation, even though [[InsaneTrollLogic that makes no sense]]. At one point, Thanos even [[MotiveRant explains to Doctor Strange]] how overpopulation left his home world in ruins and he took it upon himself to wipe out half the universe to prevent such developments in future.

* A major motivation of the Mad Titan Thanos in ''Film/AvengersInfinityWar'' and the entire Franchise/MarvelCinematicUniverse. He sincerely believes that he has to wipe out half of the universe's population in order to prevent even more people from dying due to a lack of resources and overpopulation, even though [[InsaneTrollLogic that makes no sense]]. At one point, Thanos even [[MotiveRant explains to Doctor Strange]] how overpopulation left his home world in ruins and he took it upon himself to wipe out half the universe to prevent such developments in future.

* A major plot point in ''Film/AvengersInfinityWar'' and the entire Film/MarvelCinematicUniverse. The Mad Titan Thanos sincerely believes that he has to wipe out half of the universe's population in order to prevent even more people from dying due to a lack of resources and overpopulation, even though [[InsaneTrollLogic that makes no sense]]. At one point, he even [[MotiveRant explains to Doctor Strange]] how overpopulation left his home world in ruins and he took it upon himself to wipe out half the universe to prevent such developments in future.

* A major plot point in ''Film/AvengersInfinityWar'' and the entire MarvelCinematicUniverse. The Mad Titan Thanos sincerely believes that he has to wipe out half of the universe's population in order to prevent even more people from dying due to a lack of resources and overpopulation, even though [[InsaneTrollLogic that makes no sense]]. At one point, he even [[MotiveRant explains to Doctor Strange]] how overpopulation left his home world in ruins and he took it upon himself to wipe out half the universe to prevent such developments in future.

-->--'''Book summary of ''[[Literature/ShadowChildren Among the Hidden]]'''''

* In Creator/MikhailAkhmanov and Christopher Nicholas Gilmore's novel ''Literature/CaptainFrenchOrTheQuestForParadise'', all colonies impose birth licensing policies once they reach a certain population density. While there are plenty of dystopian governments, even the nice ones do it. There is a group of women, whom the eponymous space trader nicknames "the Frantic Mothers", whose goal in life seems to be to bear as many children as possible, regardless of who the fathers are. They will do anything to move to a new colony that encourages this sort of behavior, including paying for passage with sex (preferably with a fertile male, for obvious reasons). Since the protagonist had himself sterilized (completely reversible), the Frantic Mothers are a little disappointed in him. Since most humans in this universe undergo a procedure that stops aging, it is possible for the same woman to be the progenitor of several colonies (imagine how many babies she can make in several centuries). While the protagonist isn't a big fan of such women, he does admit that they're the driving force behind most colonization ventures, pestering their government until it decides to finance the construction of a colony ship.

* Rather violently inverted in Romania under communist rule. President Nicolae Ceauşescu outlawed abortion, birth control and sex education, and instituted a "celibacy tax" for women who failed to have children, with the goal of increasing the country's population. It worked, but it didn't end well. The generation he created turned out to be the one that overthrew him, ironically, as his government was unable to provide good education and jobs to all of them, leaving young people seriously disaffected. Many also were unsurprisingly unwanted by their parents and abandoned, with growing up in state orphanages not doing anything make them like Ceaucescu.

* A similar system has been implemented in Ukraine, although it has a reduced effect, as the population growth is still negative. This has resulted in many kindergartens shutting down (why keep them open when they make no money), and any parents requiring to get in line almost as soon as their child is born in order to have a shot at putting their child into one of the remaining ones.

** They had a variation for German policy. "Pure" Aryans were encouraged to have as many children as possible through public recognition and generous state benefits, and birth control was outlawed. Tens of thousands of others including the products of miscegeneation (i.e. German and Non-Ethnic-European biological parents, generally African) and those with inheritable physical or mental conditions were forcibly sterilized. Wartime radicalisation of policy led to the bulk of the disabled population (70,273 people) being secretly euthanised under the 1939-41 Aktion T-4 programme, including 5k under-16s. Ultimately Hitler seems to have envisaged permitting 2/3 of the German population to reproduce at the very most, seeing the other 1/3 or more as being unfit to ensure the future supremacy of the German nation.
** The Nazis also had a series of variants for domestic policy outside Germany, particularly in the General Government (Polish) and Reichskomissariat Ostland, Ukraine, Muscowien, and Caucasus (USSR) zones. There would be a short-term 1/4 reduction in the size of the native populations (about 10 million Poles and 50 million Soviets) to make room for ethnic Germans settlers to be installed across the territory. After that, native population levels would be maintained or even decreased through controls on reproduction. Once the German population in those areas was sufficiently large, the remaining natives (by now fewer than 200 million) would be phased out entirely through ethnic cleansing or extermination.
* Rather violently inverted in Romania under communist rule. President Nicolae Ceauşescu outlawed abortion, birth control and sex education, and instituted a "celibacy tax" for women who failed to have children, with the goal of increasing the country's population. It worked, but it didn't end well. The generation he created turned out to be the one that overthrew him, ironically.

* Inverted in the New France colony where people where given a reward to have many children.

* Somewhat inverted in the case of the Soviet Union, where there was a tax placed on being a bachelor. While it is not explicitly a pro-birth measure, the implication was that it would lead to more births. The idea was that anyone who didn't marry and have kids didn't contribute enough to the state and the people. After all, any child is a future worker/peasant loyal to the party.
* Although not state-enforced (and is in fact a level of embarrassment to the government), Japan is currently undergoing a self-inflicted state of population control, with its growth rate currently being ''negative'' (as in more people die than are being born). There are several factors towards this, but at the end of the day it is as the [[{{UsefulNotes/Japan}} Useful Notes]] page [[UsefulNotes/JapanesePoliticalSystem says on the Japanese government]], "Japan has forgotten how to make babies".

* In another Niven verse, ''A World Out Of Time'', the State has become a OneWorldOrder where IndividualityIsIllegal, and only massive fusion-powered desalinators on every shoreline can provide enough fresh water for the massive population. A few generations back, the State instituted compulsory sterilization for all those with harmful genes, both for eugenic reasons, to save money on heath care, and to slow the rapid population growth. No wonder they're so desperate to {{Terraform}}.