the massive institutional and policy changes which accompanied the Great Leap Forward were the key factors in the famine, or at least worsened nature-induced disasters. In particular, Nobel laureate Amartya Sen puts this famine in a global context, arguing that lack of democracy is the major culprit: "Indeed, no substantial famine has ever occurred in a democratic country—no matter how poor." He adds that it is "hard to imagine that anything like this could have happened in a country that goes to the polls regularly and that has an independent press. During that terrible calamity the government faced no pressure from newspapers, which were controlled, and none from opposition parties, which were absent." Sen estimated: "Despite the gigantic size of excess mortality in the Chinese famine, the extra mortality in India from regular deprivation in normal times vastly overshadows the former. [...] India seems to manage to fill its cupboard with more skeletons every eight years than China put there in its years of shame." See also List of famines in China Northern Chinese Famine of 1876–1879 Chinese famine of 1906–1907 Chinese famine of 1928–1930 Chinese famine of 1942–1943 Four Pests campaign Droughts and famines in Russia and the Soviet Union Russian famine of 1921–1922 Soviet famine of 1930–1933 Holodomor Soviet famine of 1946–1947 Hungry Ghosts: Mao's Secret Famine Mao's Great Famine 70,000 Character Petition List of famines Crimes against humanity under communist regimes Criticism of communist party rule Mass killings under communist regimes 1975 Banqiao Dam failure Khmer Rouge 1983–1985 famine in Ethiopia North Korean famine Notes References Further reading Ashton, Basil, Kenneth Hill, Alan Piazza, Robin Zeitz, "Famine in China, 1958–61", Population and Development Review, Vol. 10, No. 4. (Dec. 1984), pp. 613–645. Banister, J. "Analysis of Recent Data on the Population of China", Population and Development, Vol. 10, No. 2, 1984. Cao Shuji, "The Deaths of China's Population and Its Contributing Factors during 1959–1961". China's Population Science (Jan. 2005) (In Chinese). China Statistical Yearbook (1984), edited by State Statistical Bureau. China Statistical Publishing House, 1984. pp. 83, 141, 190. China Statistical Yearbook (1991), edited by State Statistical Bureau. China Statistical Publishing House, 1991. China Population Statistical Yearbook (1985), edited by State Statistical Bureau. China Statistical Bureau Publishing House, 1985. Coale, Ansley J., Rapid Population Change in China, 1952–1982, National Academy Press, Washington, D.C., 1984. Dikötter, Frank. Mao's Great Famine: The History of China's Most Devastating Catastrophe, 1958–62.