Contrasting China and Japan

China and Japan are among the nations with massive populations in the world. Nevertheless, comparing the two East Asian Economic giants, multiple contrasts are revealed. The cause of the multiple differences is the diversity in the ethnicity of the citizenries being compared. The populations of the two nations lack close social homogeneity, although according to some myths it is believed that they share a common ancestry (Lau, 2004). As I compare and contrast, I wish to not that acquisition of information in China is challenging, and even when some is available, the amount is usually deficient for substantiating an argument. The deficiency arises either due to insufficient statistical analysis or the tight measures that the government puts in place to control the publication of statistics. However, conditions in Japan are more detailed, and statistics from that country are readily available.

There are various medical research institutions, government agencies, and fact finding organizations that keep morbid obesity related data. The results of analyzing these facts and statistics constantly concur because there is little variation within the source figures. Using the statistics collected by the Japanese National Institute of Nutrition and Health in its surveys comprising 27,552 girls and 29052 boys, which took place between 1976-2000 trend analyses based on age groups and sex were carried out (Ma GS, 2002). These analyses showed that the increase in the mean increase in BMI among boys was 0.32kg/m2 while that of girls was 0.24kg/m². Available Chinese statistics on morbid obesity that have been collected in the last twenty five years suggests that in overall, morbid obesity rate is less than 5%. However, statistics shows that obesity in cities is more than 20%. Obesity is a lifestyle disease, and it is due to this reason that the population of industrialized nations suffer more frequently than those of poorer nations. China has experienced acute shortages of food in the recent past, which is unlike the case with Japan. However, even though Japanese morbid obesity rate, especially with children, is higher than that of China in general, it is still low compared to other countries like the US and Australia.

The death causes and mortality rates among the Japanese and Chinese people were compared. The statistics used in comparison were those that were corrected in 1990 in both countries. The results of comparison indicated that the number of deaths per 1000 people in a population was lower in Japan than in China (Ma GS, 2002). The high Chinese mortality rate was due to prevalence of cerebral, malignant, and heart diseases. It was noticed that they had a higher occurrence frequency in urban districts as compared to rural areas. These diseases are attributable to lifestyle, just like obesity. However, the death rate as a result of bronchitis was found to be significantly eminent in rural China as compared to the cities. The varying life styles and medical systems in Japan and China were believed to be the reasons for the divergent causes and rates of death.

In this paper, I regard fertility as the count of living births in a year for every 1,000 women aged between 15 to 49 years. Birth rate in Japan has been falling steadily, leading to drops in the world’s population ranking. In the 1980s, Japan had the 7th largest population in the world. Her population ranking dropped to the 8th position by 1990, to 9th position by 1998, and is presently listed number 10^th (Ma GS, 2002). This drop might be as a result of the urban culture that the Japanese have. The Chinese population is the highest in the world, although the rate of growth has been slowing since Deng Xiaoping introduced the single child policy aiming at reducing strains on the country’s resources.

As I indicated earlier, like is the case with all developing countries, it is challenging to collect accurate statistics in China. Therefore, the analysis of figures available on the disabled people may lead to erroneous conclusions. The Chinese statutes that aim at protecting disabled persons refer to a disabled person as one who has abnormalities or has lost some organs (Lau, 2004). During 1987, the first and the only national census on the disabled people in China got underway. The survey sampled 1,579,316 people and 369,448 families. The survey ascertained that 77,345 of these people were disabled. This figures suggested that about 5% of Chinese are disabled (Murugan, 2008). In contrast, since 1981, which was the International Year of Disabled Persons, Japan has progressed in offering welfare services to the disabled in the community. They promote their services on the basis of data that are collected through various surveys. Japan conducted its first survey on people with disabilities in 1951 (Murugan, 2008). Unlike China, Japan conducts surveys on these people approximately after five years. These clearer and updated statistics help Japan address the challenges facing those with disabilities more effectively than China.

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