The revolution and opening up of China which has been experienced since the 1970s has enabled the country to become one of the most powerful economic entities with an annual GDP growing speed of 9.5% and the position of being the second largest size of economy (Ying, 2003; “China Economic Update”, 2018). This growth has been experienced regardless of the complicated international financial environment. The continued growth of the Chinese economy has gradually shifted China from a low-income country to a nation with above-average GDP per capita (Zhou et al., 2013). China also enjoys a well-established healthcare system transforming the Chinese population mode from progressive (high birth rate with rather high mortality rate) to regressive (low birth rate with low death rate) (Zhang et al, 2013; Morgan, Zhigang, & Hayford, 2009). While enjoying high economic growth and stable population mode, the spatial variation of population growth and economic development is hard to neglect. In response to the considerable difference of geographical environment, natural population distribution and particular relative position, the regional difference of economic development and mortality appears to be conspicuous and is still increasing with the process of urbanization. This essay strives to analyze the spatial variation of mortality and the economic distribution in China and to find their correlations. Based on data and statement from professional geography and economy magazines, the study uses correlation analysis and factor comparison to find the connection between population growth and economic development and to discover the fundamental cause of this unique model. The article first illustrates the spatial distribution of economic growth and mortality rate separately and then implies their correlation by comparing the statistics in different provinces, followed by their relationships and factors to the distribution.
Economic Development and Mortality Distributions
Spatial distribution is highly relevant to multiple social and natural perspectives which have led to a distinctive variation in Chinese regions. The following paragraphs will analyze the pattern of economic development and mortality rate and conclude with their correlation.
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Level of economic development in Chinese provinces
The economy of any country has always been considered a fundamental factor to determining other social issues. Among all the economic elements, GDP per capita (gross domestic product divided by total population) is suitable for the measurement of national living standard as it analyses the correlation of two variables with data from both the economic growth and population (Dowrick, Dunlop & Quiggin, 2003). The distribution of the Chinese economy appears to be quite uneven with a vast gap of almost 70 (thousand yuan per person) between the best-developed and the unproductive provinces. Statistics also shows a tendency of seven leading east coast provinces contributing to 40% of total GDP and a sharp decline when one moves from the southeast to the inner northwestern provinces whose GDP per capita is mostly under 25 (thousand yuan per person). Despite the provincial difference, there appear to be three major economic zones in China including the east, the middle and the northwestern with highest to lowest GPC (GDP per capita) accordingly. There are three dominant centers (Beijing, Tianjin and Shanghai) inside the east zone, whose GPC is remarkably higher than 70 (thousand yuan per person with a radiant effect on improving the nearby provinces’ economic development. The distribution graph of the given data forms a normal distribution with a relatively high range between the maximum and the minimum of GPC and a majority of provinces in the standard deviation of 15-50 (thousand yuan per person), leaving only 2 provinces (Guizhou and Ningxia) below 15 (thousand yuan per person) and another 3 provinces (Beijing, Tianjin and Shanghai) above 70 (thousand yuan per person). This normal curve indicates that the Chinese economy has developed in a balanced manner with active leading provinces and alleviated provincial difference.
Mortality Distribution
Significant economy development has shifted Chinese population mode into a regressive type with a low mortality rate (Zhang et. al., 2013). This is calculated as the annual death number divided by the total population and shows the national fatality level and the sustainability of the domestic labor market. With the development of the economy, Chinese people have gradually adopted improved living conditions including a well-established healthcare system and appropriate control over contagious and inherent diseases (Wang, Kong, Wu, Bai & Burton, 2005). All these factors have contributed to a significant decline in mortality. The current average mortality in china is 5.81‰ contributing to the transfer of population mode. The statistics also makes China one of the nations with the lowest death rate. The death rate is highly correlated with multiple factors like income, education level, accessibility to healthcare resources and living environment. These factors contribute to an unbalanced and complicated distribution of the population. Unlike the vague provincial difference in the economy graph, the regional mortality distinction is recognizable. This is experienced more so around the east coast where both the highest (Jiangsu, 6.88‰) and lowest (Guangzhou, 4.21‰) rates occur. The mortality rate distribution is somewhat scattered compared to the economy curve as there are multiple centers with a high death rate. This has made it hard to conclude the overall mortality distribution pattern from the national magnitude.
The Relationship Between Economy and Mortality Rate
Economic development and mortality rate are deeply correlated in various perspectives making it crucial to find their inner relations to predict the population mode and economic sustainability. There are two categories of correlation after comparing the maps and the contradictory results. In most southwestern and east coastal cities, there appears to be a negative correlation between the two variables as the economically developed regions usually enjoy lower death rate and vice versa. The relationships tend to be different in few central and northwestern cities where GPC (GDP per capita) and mortality rate tend to change simultaneously in the same direction. For instance, Ningxia experiences the lowest of GDP per capita of 7.61(thousand yuan per person) with a low mortality rate at 5.1‰. Among all the provinces, Jiangsu appears to be unique as it experiences a positive relation with highest mortality rate of 6.88‰ with GPC of 52.4 (thousand yuan per person)). Jiangsu experiences this in an area where other cities enjoy a negative correlation. These correlations have offered diverse perspectives in finding their inner causalities and interactions.
One fundamental causality for the relationship is the antagonism interconnection of economy and death rate. According to Banister & Zhang (2005), both infant and adult mortalities have declined in response to economic development and this has led to an increased life expectancy. One reason for this is that the economic growth has led to an upgrade of the healthcare system by creating professional medical physicians and well-established technology equipment (Gray, 2009 ). This has ensured effective treatment and promoted precautions for contagious diseases. Additionally, economic development has significantly improved citizens’ living conditions by providing adequate food supply and ensuring the affordability of medication. With the declined mortality rate, a stable growth of employees, and an increase in the working age limit, China has enjoyed a tremendous demographic to promote economic growth steadily. In turn, the economic growth will promote the living conditions and form a positive circulation for social betterment.
Economy and mortality rate influence each other both directly or through a third variable. Population compositions in different regions have also had a significant impact on both the economy and death rate. In regions made of mostly adults at working age like Beijing and Tianjin, economic growth is high with the death rate below average. These cities share adequate immigrant labor force to help promote the growth of the economy. Cities attracting immigrants are usually with well-established resources that improve the physical wellbeing of their citizens and this further reduces the death rate. As population inflow leads to economic growth and decrease in the mortality rate, the population outflow brings the exact opposite and leads to the economy stagnating and mortality increase. Additionally, without sufficient working labor force, not only will the economy have low industrial output but also the infrastructure will face a higher scrap rate and result in a higher mortality rate.
The primary cause of mortality in China has shifted over the years from contagious acute pandemics to chronic diseases like cardiovascular and respiratory disorders (Wang, Kong, Wu, Bai & Burton, 2005). These new diseases are tightly associated with the regional environment making it important to study natural conditions when analyzing the correlation between economy and death rate. Even though fast economic development has resulted in convenience and high living conditions, it has also resulted in severe pollution to the industrialized cities. This has caused potential living risks to citizens and thus increased the mortality rate in certain provinces like Henan and Shandong that suffer from heritable ischaemic heart disease and cerebrovascular disease (Zhou, 2016). Developing economy at the price of destroying the environment is harmful to the population and also the economy itself. With a poor environment, the natural capacity reduces in response to the excessive resource exploitation.
Environment
One of the challenges that the traditional industry-based economic faces is a gradual reduction of labor workface with a high death rate in the population. The dilemma of the developing the economy is to continually develop and protect the environment. This might be resolved by changing the local industry-based economy to focus on promoting local employees that work in the service industries. The service industry has a less significant environmental impact and this allows for economic growth with a controllable death rate and protecting the natural environment. Ningxia sets a wonderful example for this style of economic growth by having provincial tourism as the leading industry. The region experiences a friendly environment with the larger population having a decrease in the mortality rate.
Education
Apart from the physical factors, the education level of the population should also be considered when analyzing the correlation between economy and death rate. Residents in financially developed regions usually spend money on education which enables them to adopt critical attitudes towards healthcare and this improves their life expectancy. In addition, people with high intellectual abilities typically choose occupations that are safe and technical allowing them to make more substantial contributions to the local economy while reducing the mortality rate. Apart from taking better care of themselves, highly educated individuals usually apply more practical nurturing kills when raising kids and this leads to a reduction in infant mortality (Banister & Zhang, 2005). Given all the listed benefits, education has successfully helped form the sustainable link between economy and mortality rate and inspired local government to focus on reducing the illiteracy rate in order to promote economic development and maintain low death rate.
Among all the provincial correlations for economy and mortality, Jiangsu was unique due to its different high mortality rate with high economic development level. This correlation adds a different perspective of uneven urbanization to our study. Urbanization is a significant index for measuring the balance of economic development where cities usually higher living conditions and lower death rate compared to the rural areas. However, Jiangsu enjoys apparent imbalance of population distribution due to an imbalance in the distribution of wealth and development. Most youngsters in the north region live in technology oriented zones that have economic success while seniors are gathered in the southern rural districts that face challenges with their infrastructure and healthcare (Banerjee, Duflo, & Qian, 2012).
Conclusion
While the economic development level and mortality rate differ significantly on the provincial scale, they share a relatively stable degree when viewing from the entire nation. The GDP has risen for more than 30 times in the past four decades which has transformed China from a disadvantaged country to a nation with unneglectable economic influence. Chinese citizens have experienced improved living conditions under which residents can enjoy more extended life expectancy. Besides the comprehensive social welfare system brought by economic development, the revolution and opening up have also guaranteed ample investment in healthcare permitting patients to receive advanced scientific-based treatments. The overall result is that the mortality rate has reduced significantly and changed Chinese population mode to become regressive and the population more sustainable. The correlation analysis on economic development and death rate has offered unique inspiration on handling related social consequences like reconsidering potential scales like education and environment protection which balances the economy with individual wellbeing.
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