One Child Policy China Why was it put in place?

The one child policy was put in place to address the problem of overpopulation in China. The resources of the country would not have been able to support its growing population.

What are the aims of the policy?

The aim of the policy was to reduce the birth rate and to try and reduce the countrys rapid population growth. It was introduced in 1979. The aim was to try and make sure that their population did not go over 1.2 billion by 2000. It was mainly strongly implemented in urban areas with families in rural areas still having a second child. It was put in place to reduce the stress on the countrys resources. It was also put in place to reduce unemployment due to surplus labor. Another aim of the policy is to increase the quality of womens healthcare in the country.

What are the incentives offered to families with one child?

The family would get preferential access to schools, hospitals and housing services. Less money and time is spent, which means it can be invested elsewhere to ensure they have good saving for retirement. The mother and the child get free healthcare to ensure that they stay healthy. The child also gets free healthcare and education. The parents get a 10% wage bonus and pension benefits. All the families have access to free birth control and contraception so they can enforce the policy.

What are the disincentives put in place for families with more children?
Families that already have one child but chose to have another are often pressured into abortion of the second child. They might threaten them with unemployment, reduced wages and take away bonuses. There is also a Family planning fine put in place wherein the parents have to pay a percentage of their disposable income of the year of the birth of their second child. The second child will not receive the free healthcare and education which becomes an extra cost for the parents. The women pregnant with the second child, if it has not been approved by the government can be forced to abort it.

Impacts of the Policy what are the effects it has on the people?
It has different effects on the different groups of people in the country. It affects mainly the people who live in the urban areas of China. Over 90% of the population was allowed to have two children if their first child was handicapped, if the first child died, if the first child was a girl (especially in rural areas due to agriculture) or if they paid a fine or bribed officials. Also if two only children married they were allowed to have 2 children. In the rural areas of China the male child is much more favored than a female one. This leads to female children being abandoned at birth which also leads to a higher number of

female orphans. The male child would be able to care for the family better than the female child in agriculture based society. This has also lead to an unbalance of the ration between men and women. There are fewer women than men which meant many men cannot find a wife easily if they want to start a family. The families also have only one child which means that they are spoilt. The children are then unable to work and adapt later on in life in different situations.

What does the future hold?

4-2-1 problem- One child is left supporting two parents and 4 grandparents due to the one child policy due to the betterment of the healthcare in China. This also meant that there were less people paying taxes to the government and help support their parents. This contributed to the policy relaxing in 1999. Spare Branches- A lot of female babies were being aborted which led to the male to female ratio in the population being uneven. There were much higher numbers of men than women. This occurred as boys were seen to be more useful for the family as they will work more and will support the parents later on. The girls would be married off and will not be able to support her family. Little Emperor- The one child policy led to many children being unable to work in teams or being unable to adapt to different situations. This is because they tend to get spoilt by the parents as they are the only child which later causes difficulties working in teams.