Running head: ONE CHILD POLICY 1

One Child Policy

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Introduction

One child policy in China was one of the major steps taken to minimize the massive Chinese

population growth. There has been debate on how this move affected the chinse and whether it

failed or was successful. In this essay, the focus shall be on discussing how this policy affected

china and whether it was a success or failure.

How One Child policy affected China

The first impact of this policy is that it slowed the population growth per 1000 people. Another

result was the shrinking in the working population, whereby the number of people aged between

15-64 drastically reduced. The number of dependents also became very high due to a rise in the

number of older people (Nardelli & Swann, 2015).

The result of the diminishing number of people working negatively influence the economic

growth of China. What follows this is a drop in the demand for goods as fewer jobs are going to

be created. Fertility rates of the chines also dropped because of the policy as more people moved

into the urban areas.

Success or Failure

China’s one-child policy was a failure because of the majority of the 40 million births that they

recorded during this period as a result of the poor fertility rates (Nie, 2010). Another reason why

this policy failed because its drawbacks after some years outweigh its advantages. It also resulted

in many of the female fetuses getting aborted and the men today now lack women to marry.

The unequal enforcement of the law also shows why this policy was ineffective. People who

could not follow the rules stated by the policy were denied rights to health, and they could easily
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acquire land. This, however, only applies to the poor as the rich could flout rules and get away

with the crimes while the poor suffered as they could not afford to pay the government. This

highlights the failure in the policy based on how it was enforced.

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References

Nardelli, A., & Swann, G. (2015). The impact of China's one-child policy in four graphs.

Retrieved 24 February 2020, from

https://www.theguardian.com/world/datablog/2015/oct/29/impact-china-one-child-

policy-four-graphs

Nie, W. (2010). China's one-child policy - success or failure?. Retrieved 24 February 2020, from

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-pacific-11404623