Pros And Cons Of China's One Child Policy

Since the establishment of China, 1949, the republic began promoting birth control though such efforts remained irregular, isolated and voluntary until shortly after Mao Zedong’s death in 1976. By late 1970s, China’s population nearly reached the set one-billion mark. This is when the country’s leadership headed by Xiaoping considered controlling what had now become a fast growing population growth rate. Late 1978, a voluntary program was framed, one that urged families not to have any more than two children, one being preferable. In 1979, the policy was made more stringent and the limit was set to one child per family. This however, as wasn’t standardized, did not apply evenly across China until 1980, after which the central government thought to regulate the one-child

Post policy implementation, roughly 4% more males than females were observed in the overall population.

As per Chinese tradition, sons inherit the family name and property and are responsible for the care of elderly in the family. Now as the policy compelled people to have only one child, female abortions, female infanticide and abandoned baby girls were a few of the many cons of the policy. With the effective implementation of the policy, the gap between the number of males and females widened. As of present, the policy has resulted in a situation where there are fewer women available for marriage.

Another consequence of the policy is a growing proportion of elderly people, the result of the concurrent drop in children born and rise in longevity since 1980. This is a serious concern for this, if not dealt with head on, would mean a decline in labor force for when a large part of the population is ageing together, it becomes a serious concern for a country, for it means a potential loss in economic activity in a