Social: Olvana

This page is a section of Olvana.

Olvanese culture spans more than 4,500 years. It was shaped by numerous and varied historical schools of thought: the predominant religion of Hinduism, the Upanishads, Yoga Sutras, the Bhakti movement, and Buddhism. Olvana is notable for its religious diversity, with Hinduism, Buddhism, Sikhism, Islam, Christianity, and Jainism among the nation’s major religions. For much of the country’s history, families could obtain social advancement by high performance in the prestigious imperial examinations, and a culture of merit remains greatly valued in Olvana today. Some observers see the period following the establishment of the PRO as a continuation of traditional Olvanese dynastic history, while others claim that the Communist Party's rule damaged the foundations of Olvanese culture, thanks to political movements that destroyed many aspects of traditional culture. Today, the Olvanese Communist Party (OCP) seeks to change some traditional aspects such as rural land tenure, sexism, and the Confucian system of education, while preserving others, such as the family structure and culture of obedience to the state as being integral to society.

Social Statistics for Olvana, Belesia, Gabal, North Torbia, and South Torbia

Statistic	Olvana	Belesia	Gabal	N. Torbia	S. Torbia
Age distribution (%)	0-14 years: 16.60% 15-64 years: 70.14% 65+ years: 13.26%
Median age	37.4 Males: 36.5 Females 38.4
Population Growth rate (Rank)	1,123,348,142 +0.59% (159)
Birth rate per 1,000 (Rank)	16.5 (112)
Death rate per 1,000 (Rank)	16.2 (142)
Net Migration rate per 1,000 (Rank)	-1.3 (88)
Urban population Annual urbanization rate	87.0% 0.7%
Infant mortality rate (Rank)	12.2 deaths per 1000 live births (102)
Life expectancy at birth in years (Rank)	72.6 years Males: 70.5 Females 76.0 (97)
Fertility rate (Children per woman) (Rank)	1.6 (164)
Major diseases in the OE	Bacterial diarrhea Hepatitis A Typhoid fever Japanese encephalitis Hantaviral hemorrhagic fever
Ethnic groups (%)	Peelee: 91.51% Beihai: 1.57% Baiyin: 1.00% Dong: 0.86% Yi: 0.62% Gannan: 0.51% Other: 3.93%
Religions in OE (%)	Hindu: 79.8% Muslim: 14.2% Christian: 2.3% Sikh: 1.7% Buddhists: 0.7% Jains: 0.4% Other: 0.9%
Languages	Eastern variants of Olvanese: 71.5% Other Olvanese variants: 24.3% Non-Olvanese languages: 4.2%
Literacy rate (older than 15) (%)	96.4% Males: 98.3% Females: 94.4%

Population Movement (Migration/IDPs/Refugees)

Internal migration in Olvana is one of the most extensive in the world. Over the last forty years, the urban population has grown 242%, three-fourths of which was attributable to net migration and urban reclassification—the largest such volume of urban migration in history. This has led to concerns about a brain drain, as professionals and intellectuals are most likely to obtain permanent employment and not return to the rural communities. Migrant workers account for 36% of the total workforce in Olvana. Two-thirds of these workers are male. Current government estimates indicate that within the next ten years, this number will grow to 40% of the urban population.  In general, while urbanization provides Olvanese workers with more opportunity, it also constrains them, since the government excludes rural-urban migrant workers from local educational resources, citywide social welfare programs and many jobs. Additionally, potential employers view migrant workers—especially females—as replaceable labor, and generally offer much lower wages. Furthermore, the government will forcibly move migrant workers out of the coastal urban areas and into the rural interior based on agricultural labor needs, irrespective of the migrant workers’ origins.

Waves of Olvanese emigration occurred from the 19^th century through the mid-20th century, mainly due to wars and starvation, invasion from various foreign countries, and problems resulting from political corruption. Most immigrants were illiterate peasants and manual laborers who emigrated to the Americas, southern Africa, and other parts of Asia. After the Communist revolution, strict controls prevented large numbers of people from leaving the country. Liberalized emigration policies enacted in the 1980s, however, facilitated the legal departure of increasing numbers of Olvanese, who joined their overseas relatives. Additionally, a modernization program allowed Olvanese students and scholars—especially engineers—to attend foreign education and research institutions, bringing increased contact with industrialized nations.  Relatively small levels of immigration came as the result of government-offered various incentives intended to to repatriate part of the Olvanese diaspora. The government settled many of those retuning on various islands in the South China Sea.

Over the last decade, Olvana has accepted over 300,000 refugees from Africa and Asia displaced due to natural disasters, famine, disease outbreak, and war. The term refugee, however, is not used by the Olvanese government. Instead, their official position is that these migrants were accepted as part of a work program sponsorship; these indivuals are expected to return to their homeland.

Population Distribution

The official population of Olvana is 1,123,348,142. Eastern coastal provinces are much more densely populated than the western interior. About 16.60% of the population is 14 years old or younger, 70.14% is between 15 and 59 years old, and 13.26% is over 60 years old, with a median age of 37.4. The population growth rate is an annual average of 0.59% and the human gender ratio is 940 females per 1,000 males. The urban/rural split is 87% urban and 13% rural, with 13% residing within megacities. The five largest cities in Olvana are:

Shanghai            Population 29,870,751             Metropolitan Area 53,137,280

Chongqing          Population 17,539,169             Metropolitan Area 37,180,905

Guangzhou         Population 15,722,194             Metropolitan Area 65,443,039

Wuhan                Population 11,142,260             Metropolitan Area 29,225,020

Hong Kong          Population 10,423,553             Metropolitan Area 10,423,553

Olvana is one of the most populated countries in the world and its national population density is 805/sq. mi. The overall national density, however, does not account for major variations by region. Broadly speaking, the vast majority of the population lives in and around coastal cities and river deltas. In the east, the population density is 1250 per square mile, while the southwest averages 302 people per square mile. Discounting urban dwellers, sections of the western portions of the country rarely achieving density greater than 10/mi². Population crowding in urban areas raises concerns within the government that there will be widespread unemployment and political instability. The population of Olvana is projected to continue growing, reaching 1.5 billion within ten years, and peak of 1.65 billion within 25 years. However, the population is then projected to decline heavily, falling below 1 billion by the next century. This is decline is due to socioeconomic factors, not Olvanese government policy.

Demographic Mix

Olvana’s demographics show a large population with a relatively small division of youth, partially a result of Olvana’s family planning policies. Olvana’s growth rate has dropped to 0.6%, ranking them at 159th in the world. The age distribution of the population is 16.6% under the age of 14, 13.3% over the age of 65, and 70.1% between 15 and 64 years old. The median age in the country is 37.4, 36.5 for males, and 38.4 for females. The country’s birth rate is 16.5 births per 1,000, while the death rate is 16.2 deaths/1,000 population. The gender distribution is 1.10 males/female at birth, 1.10 males to females under the age of 15, 1.06 males to females aged 15-64, and 0.90 males to females over the age of 65.

Though per-capita income is still well below Western countries, Olvana's rapid economic growth pulled hundreds of millions of its people out of poverty since economic liberalization measures were implemented some 40 years ago. Today, about 10% of the Olvanese population lives below the poverty line, down from 64% prior to liberalization. However, Olvana continues to face several public health-related challenges. Life expectancy in Olvana is at 72.6 years, with life expectancy for women being 76.0 years and 70.5 years for men. There are around 50 physicians per 100,000 Olvanese. The number of Olvanese living in urban areas has grown by 31.2% in the past decade, up from 27.8% in the previous decade. The slowing down of the overall growth rate of population was due to a sharp decline in the growth rate in rural areas.

Initially, the OCP viewed a large population as an asset. However, it soon became apparent that there were a number of liabilities associated with a large, rapidly growing population. The government imposed a number of restrictions intent on slowing the population growth rate. These included emphasizing the virtues of late marriage, creating sanctioned birth control offices, and employing a combination of public education, social pressure, and coercion to reward those who had fewer children. Governments at the local, regional, and national level give couples with only one child benefits such as cash bonuses, longer maternity leave, better childcare, and preferential housing assignments. These programs were more successful in the urban areas than in rural, due largely to the economic realities of urban life than the actual state intervention.

During the early period of OCP leadership, the birth rate fell from 37 per thousand to 20 per thousand. Infant mortality declined from 227 per thousand births in 1949, to 53 per thousand in 1981. Life expectancy increased dramatically, from around 35 years in 1948 to 66 years in 1976. Today, the OCP is seeking to address an imbalance with the country's female-to-male gender ratio and aging population. Since the citizens of Olvana are living longer and having fewer children, the growth of the population imbalance will continue. This leaves a single adult child with having to provide support for his or her two parents and four grandparents, called the “4-2-1 problem.”

Social Volatility

Social issues in Olvana are significant and wide-ranging. They are a combined result of vestiges from the Communist Revolution, Olvana’s political and cultural history, and Olvana’s immense population. Because of the vast number of social problems that exist, Olvana’s government faces considerable difficulty in trying to remedy the issues. The Olvanese media exposes some of these issues, while in other cases, the government censors politically sensitive issues. The combination of social issues and unsustainable economic growth has the potential, in the long term, to destabilize the nation and threaten the dominance of the OCP.

Caste-related violence in Olvana is on the rise. Last year, there were a reported 31,440 cases of violent acts committed against the so-called “untouchable” caste. These equate to approximately 50.4 violent acts per 10,000 people, up from 1.3 cases a decade earlier. This violence occurred in spite of the fact that the Olvanese Constitution prohibits discrimination based on caste, and declared the ancient caste system illegal during the Communist Revolution.

Sources of unrest within the nation include resistance to media censorship, dissatisfaction with corrupt government officials, unfair treatment by local governments and businesses due to land and expropriation issues, and political persecution following expressions of dissent. The OCP attempts a balancing act by allowing limited forms of dissent, seeking to lessen political tension by offering  mild protest as a release valve. Government officials and intellectual elites both have greater access to non-government approved sources of information; they can publish dissenting works the ordinary citizen would not be allowed to. However, authorities silence debates that begin to take on a life of their own, and refuse to recognize the right of the average Olvanese citizens to publish their opinions on political issues free from government censorship. Therefore, while the government encourages the state-controlled media to engage in targeted reporting on corruption, it will not tolerate similar criticisms from private individuals.

Despite significant barriers to publication access and the inherent dangers of criticizing a totalitarian regime, members of Olvana’s "free-speech elite" can express concerns and criticism regarding the government with less fear of punishment than the average Olvanese citizen. This group is composed of senior government and OCP leaders, those with the patronage of such leaders, the professional and financial elite and—to a lesser extent—academics and journalism professionals. Olvanese authorities recognize that limited freedom of expression enables the government to better monitor potentially problematic social issues and thus tolerate limited criticism, but only from the aforementioned categories of people, and only in government-controlled forums. Doing this serves to lessen political tension by serving as a release valve for discontent, deflects criticism that citizens of Olvana do not enjoy freedom of expression, and enables government authorities to monitor the mood of the people. Government authorities track who is inclined to express discontent, and then work to keep such expression from being forced underground where authorities can neither monitor nor control it. The government tolerates such debates only if they occur in private discussions, closed academic conferences, government-authorized publishing outlets, or other forums where the government does not feel there is any threat of greater public participation that it cannot control. Certain groups and individuals who are unable to obtain government authorization do publish books and periodicals on a small scale, but this is possible only through subterfuge and violation of Olvanese law. These private publishers are, therefore, subject to the threat of closure and arrest.

While Olvana often violently and publically quells civil unrest, the amount of dissatisfaction has risen dramatically in recent years. The recorded incidents of mass unrest rose form 8,700 twenty years ago to more than 90,000 each in the last three years. Reasons cited include: an aggrieved class of dispossessed migrants and unemployed workers, a deep loss of faith in the Olvanese system, and a weakening in the traditional means of state control. Corruption, state monopolies, the yawning wealth gap, and the rising cost of housing, education, and medical care all contribute significantly to unrest, with property/business seizures and the widening wealth gap as the two top factors. Unemployment, unpaid wages, and police misconduct are additional sources of grievances.

Education Level

To be published

Ethnic Diversity

To be published

Religious Diversity

To be published

Common Languages

To be published

Criminal Activity

To be published

Human Rights

To be published

Centers of Social Power

To be published

Tribal System

To be published

Honor and Shame

• To be published

Basic Cultural Norms and Values

To be published

Meeting & Greeting
Visiting/ Hospitality
Manners
Customs and Practices Cultural Dos & Don’ts
Gifts
Taboos
Personal Space
Displays of Affection
Marriage Rituals
Work Week/ Work Hours
Concept Of Time
Dispute Resolution
Birth Rituals
Death Rituals

Summary

To be published