Hirani

Allez Hirani
11M

An Anti-natalist case study: Chinas One-Child Policy

Background Information:

The policy was imposed in 1979 and had a drastic impact on the birth rate.
(17 per 1000 from 1970 rate of 33)
The rule has reduced the population growth in a country of 1.3 billion people
by 300 million in a span of 20 years.
The government has predicted that the population will peak at 1.5 billion in
2033.
Population growth was impacting on the nation's food supply
By 1962 a massive famine had caused around 30 million deaths
During the period the 1960s and 70s, Chinese families could have as many
children as they liked. Many had four or five children. Some even had six or
seven.
China, with a population in excess of 1.3 billion operates the worlds most
severe family program. Although it has large amount of resources, the
balance between the population and resources has been a major cause of
concern for much of the later part of the 20th century.

How the policy works:
The one child policy is not an all-encompassing rule because it is restricted to
certain ethnic religions especially in rural areas where it remains
traditionally focused on male heirs.
In some provinces, if the first child is a girl, they can have 2 children and in
some areas the rules are relaxed.
Restricted to the Han Chinese living in the urban areas which comprise 36%
of the population
Parents who have no siblings were allowed to have 2 children to prevent a
dramatic population decrease.
Families, which lost a child in the Sichuan earthquake in 2008, were allowed
to have another child.
Chinas policy is based on a reward and penalty approach. Rural households
that obey family planning rules get priority for loans, materials, technical
assistance and social welfare. the slogan in china is shao sheng kuai fu
meaning fewer births , quickly richer.
One major exception to the One Child Policy allows two singleton children
(the only offspring of their parents) to marry and have two children.
Additionally, if a first child is born with birth defects or major health
problems, the couple is usually permitted to have a second child

Hirani 1

Chinas one child policy means benefits to parents if they follow the rules
Once the first child is born they will receive a one child certificate from the
hospital, this will let the family have access benefits
an extra month's salary every year until the child is 14
Higher wages
Interest-free loans
Retirement funds
Cheap fertilizer
Better housing
Better health care
Priority in school enrolment
Additionally, women who marry late, after age 25, will receive an extended
maternity leave when they become pregnant with their child,

this is all conditional, If the parents have a second child, the benefits they

received by having one child are taken away, and they can be punished

further for having another child. Punishments such as
Being fined $370 to $12, 800, will vary on the annual income of the family
Their home destroyed
Their children denied the rights and benefits of the state, like education, or
their child taken away
the parents will be forced to have an abortion

China's one-child policy - success or failure?
Strengths/ positive impacts
400 million fewer births since the policy was started therefore it has reduced
birth rate, fertility rate and total population. When the One Child Policy was
adopted in 1979, China's population was about 972 million people. In 2012
the population of China is about 1.343 billion people
Within urban areas children are benefiting from the one child policy; with no
sibling competition they have a better education, a greater amount of
attention
The one child policy has been more effective in urban areas where the
traditional bias of couples wanting a son has been significantly eroded
Parents are saving money by only having one child therefore the family has a
better standard of living

Weaknesses/ negative impacts
Many Chinese and foreign academics believe this is a mistake and will result
in a number of serious demographic problems in the future.
The one child policy is divisive in the Chinese society and sparked a riot in
Southwest China where thousands of villagers attacked family planning
officials where cars were overturned and buildings were set on fire.

Hirani 1

In the early 1990s, as the first single children were becoming teenagers,
Chinese media began to highlight the problem of parents who spoil their only
child, causing problems of obesity, selfishness and bad behavior. This is
known as Little Emperor Syndrome
Shows the wealth gap between people in China as many of the rich families
violate the rules because they can afford the fines.
The one-child policy has costed the government money for discouraging
people to have fewer children.
Chinese society prefers sons to daughters. Some daughters were placed in
orphanages or left to die (female infanticide) in the hope of having a son the
second time round. In other cases selective abortion was happening after
pre-natal scans, which has caused a gender imbalance. By 2020, it is
estimated that men in China will outnumber women by 30 million, which
might lead to social tension and unrest as more and more men find
themselves unable to marry. The family planning resulted in disparate ratio
of 118 male to every 100 female births, which is above the global norm of
103 and 107 boys to every 100 girls. It reflects how China values male infants
over female infants, and millions of females have aborted or died as a result
of abandonment.
The second generation of single children not only has no siblings, they also
have no aunts, uncles or cousins. By 2030 married couples could find
themselves responsible for as many as 12 elderly people consisting of 2 sets
of parents and up to four sets of grandparents
Will lead to an ageing population. They will need supporting financially in
their old age, which includes an increasing need for healthcare that is
expensive.
Many experts believe that China's growing economy won't have enough
workers to keep expanding whilst also supporting the increasing number of
dependents.

Future issues:

Several experts have now called for a move to a uniform 2-child policy.
Due to increase ageing population in the following
China will have nearly 450 million people aged over 60 and 100 million over
80. Thus there will be only 1.6 working adults to support every person aged
over 60 compared with more that in the 1970s.
Fertility rates now 1.8 below the replacement rate of 2.1.