Chinas One Child Policy The Peoples Republic of
China’s One Child Policy
• The People’s Republic of China was formed in 1949. • At the time, its population was 550 million. • People were encouraged to have children as they believed this gave them power, and the population more than doubled to 1. 13 billion by 1990.
China’s Population 1, 306, 313, 800 (2005 estimate) Population density 140 persons per sq km 363 persons per sq mi (2005 estimate) Urban population distribution 39 percent (2003 estimate) Rural population distribution 61 percent (2003 estimate) Largest cities, with population Shanghai, 12, 887, 000 (2000 estimate) Beijing, 10, 839, 000 (2000 estimate) Chongqing, 4, 900, 000 (2000 estimate) Life expectancy 72. 3 years (2005 estimate) Infant mortality rate 24 deaths per 1, 000 live births (2005 estimate) Literacy rate 87. 3 percent (2005 estimate)
Facts about China • China, officially the People’s Republic of China, country in East Asia. • China is the world’s largest country by population and one of the largest by area, measuring about the same size as the United States. • More than one-fifth of the world’s population - 1. 3 billion people live in China. • While China’s population continues to grow, the growth rate has slowed in step with declining fertility and birth rates. • The fertility rate (the average number of children born to each woman during her lifetime) declined from 6. 2 in the early 1950 s to 1. 7 in 2005. • The birth rate declined from about 45 births per 1, 000 people in 1953 to an estimated 13 in 2005 • The death rate dropped from 22 per 1, 000 people to an estimated 7. As a result, the annual growth rate declined from about 2. 25 percent in 1953 to 0. 58 percent in 2005.
Facts about China • Despite the figures China’s population still grows by millions of people each year. • The most serious challenge created by such a large annual population increase is employing the millions of young people who enter the workforce each year. • Although China’s economy has grown rapidly, especially since the early 1990 s, it has not been able to provide enough good opportunities for all new workers, many of whom have only minimal education and skills. • China's population is expected to increase from 1. 26 billion to 1. 6 billion in 2050.
The decrease in fertility rate recorded from the 1950 s to the 1990 s resulted largely from government efforts. These efforts included promoting late marriages and, after 1979, inducing Chinese couples to have only one child. The one-child policy actually allows for two or more children under some circumstances. In addition to implementing the one-child policy, the state has expanded the number of public health facilities that provide birth-control information and contraceptive devices at little or no cost. Abortion is legal, and pregnant women who already have one or more children face social and administrative pressures to terminate their pregnancies.
The One Child Policy The one-child policy, established in 1979, meant that each couple was allowed just one child. (The thinking behind the policy was that China’s population growth-rate was unsustainable. ) “The one-child policy was introduced to ensure that China, which has historically been prone to floods and famine, could feed all its people. Government officials said the policy was a great success, preventing at least 250 million births since 1980. ” Benefits of the policy, included access to education, childcare and health care, were offered to families that followed this rule. It was withdrawn from those that had further children. Fines were placed on families that had more than one child. The one-child policy was keenly resisted in rural areas, where it was traditional to have large families. The one-child policy has been enforced strictly in urban areas, but remote rural areas have been harder to control.
The One Child Policy The one-child policy was keenly resisted in rural areas, where it was traditional to have large families. The one-child policy has been enforced strictly in urban areas, but remote rural areas have been harder to control. Many people claim that some women, who became pregnant after they had already had a child, were forced to have an abortion and many women were forcibly sterilised. There appears to be a lot of evidence to back up these claims. Despite forced abortions and severe financial penalties, many couples still get around the law by sending the pregnant woman to stay with relatives until the baby is born or claiming the newborn baby was adopted or belongs to a friend or relative. The China Youth Daily said the 'one child' had also allowed many children in the countryside to get a better education. The price of school fees has risen rapidly in the countryside - representing around 27% of the total budget of an average family with just one child, and therefore acts as a strong deterrent to having more children.
The One Child Policy A man and his child stand in front of a billboard that advocates a policy of one child per family in China. The Chinese government’s campaign for one-child families, along with its promotion of birth control and late marriages, has slowed the growth of China’s huge population.
The impact of the One child policy The birth rate in China has fallen considerably in the last 25 years, and the rate of population growth is now just 0. 7%. There have however been negative impacts too. . . Due to a traditional preference for boys, large numbers of female babies have ended up homeless or in orphanages, and in some cases killed. The reasons for the preference for boys are complex but lie partly in established cultural traditions. Sons carry on the family name, perhaps more important, sons are expected to care for their parents in old age. Typically, daughters care for their husband’s parents rather than for their own. This care is of concern particularly in rural areas, where the majority of Chinese still.
The impact of The One Child Policy • In 2000, it was reported that 90% of foetuses aborted in China were female. • As a result, the gender balance of the Chinese population has become distorted. • The Chinese government, for example, records (1997) a ratio of about 104 males to every 100 females, while the United Nations records (2005) a ratio of 106 males to every 100 females (compared to 97 males to 100 females in Canada and 100 to 100 in Indonesia). Today it is thought that men outnumber women by more than 60 million.
Long term implications China's one-child policy has been somewhat relaxed in recent years. Couples can now apply to have a second child if their first child is a girl, or if both parents are themselves only-children. While China's population is now rising more slowly, it still has a very large total population. China now faces new problems: The falling birth rate is leading to the population structure becoming unbalanced between young and old, as the relative number of elderly people rises. At the same time there are fewer people of working age to support the growing number of elderly dependents. In the future China could have an ageing population.
Long term implications The World Bank claims that ‘China will have the old-age burden of a high income economy. ’ This is will have a massive impact on Chinese Society and require urgent provision of pensions, health care and other benefits. At the moment there is no pension system at all for the majority of the population, especially in rural areas. In time more single-children families will have to support up two parents and four grandparents. At present most grandparents in rural areas still live, as they have always done with their family – a situation that has become unusual in urban areas. Only recently has the state become to take responsibility for the welfare of the elderly. Another problem from the One child policy – as there are now more males than females (particularly noticeable among the younger generation) one Chinese magazine has predicted the emergence of ‘a large army of bachelors. ’
The One Child Policy - some different perspectives 'If I have one child it will be raised better. It will have more opportunities, and my career is the most important thing. I really want to excel at it. ' Lu Zhufeng, a twenty year old medical student. 1970's 'Vigilantes abduct pregnant women on the streets and haul them off, sometimes handcuffed or trussed, to abortion clinics. (Some) aborted babies cry when they are born. ' Steven Mosher, author of 'Broken Earth' which introduced the west to the One. Child Policy. 1980
The One Child Policy In groups discuss the following questions: 1. Why did the Chinese government believed it made sense for families to only have one child? 2. What were the benefits of China’s one-child policy? 3. What were the problems associated with China’s one child policy.
- Slides: 15