Policies to help achieve a sustainable society
Every country needs to implement policies that encourage sustainability and growth in the society and economy. These policies usually depend on the characteristics of that country. Factors that influence the kind of policies a nation adopts to ensure a sustainable society include the composition, size and density of the population. A sustainable society is one where every citizen has adequate access to social and economic resources. Social and individual rights must also be upheld. Furthermore, a sustainable society is one where industrialization and other economic sectors have adequate manpower while labor and employment are not a problem to society.
Germany has an estimated population of 81.3 million citizens as per July 2011. In 2004, the country’s population was 82.5 million. By 2015, the World Bank predicts that the population would have declined further to 80.3 million people. The population is mainly composed of elderly people with 20.6% of the citizens being over 65 years old. The median age is about 44.9 years. With an extremely low birth rate of about 8.33 births for every 1000 people, which is lower than the death rate of 11.04 per 1000 people, the population growth is negative 0.2 percent.
These policies would help ensure that the birth rate increases and the country’s population would increase because of births, adoptions from foreign countries and immigrations. Improved medical and social conditions help reduce the death rates. Collectively, these policies help the country to have a sustainable society. It will also ensure the country maintains or improves its social and economic sustainability in the future. The country will have adequate manpower to run all the economic activities as well as cater for all social issues.
Milbrath, L. W. (1989). Envisioning a Sustainable Society: Learning Our Way Out. New York: SUNY Press.
Széll, G., & Széll, U. (2009). Quality of Life and Working Life in Comparison (illustrated ed.). Berlin: Peter Lang.
Whitehead, M. (2006). Spaces Sustainability (illustrated, annotated ed.). New York: Taylor & Francis.
