One child policy

Definition of 'One-Child Policy'

The 'one-child policy' is a policy implemented by the Chinese government as a method of controlling the population. The one-child policy was introduced in 1979 in response to an explosive population growth, and mandated that couples from China's Han majority could only have one child. This was intended to alleviate the social, economic and environmental problems associated with the country's rapidly growing population.

Government family planning services became available as a contribution to maternal and child health in China from 1953. As the result of falling death rates, the population growth rate rose to 2.8%, leading to some 250 million additional people by 1970. After a century of rebellions, wars, epidemics, and the collapse of imperial authority, during which the annual population growth was probably no more than 0.3%, such an expansion was initially seen as part of China’s new strength. 

Allowing more couples to have more children now should boost consumption almost right away for goods like infant formula, food and clothing, and education services. Shifting China’s export-driven economy further towards consumption-led growth is one of the government’s key economic goals.

China’s cultural preference for boys meant that, for many years, parents used various ways to avoid having a daughter, including abortions of female fetuses and even infanticide. That meant that many more boys were born than girls; in 2004, the highest year on record, 121  boys were born for every 100 girls. As a result, by 2020, there will be between 30 million and 35 million more Chinese men of marrying age than women. Removing the one-child policy won’t change the cultural preferences, but may ease the pressure on parents if their first child is a girl.

However, if there is no one-child policy the people would have more children and this would lead to many problems. There would be more competition for the children and reduced job opportunities. There are more than 1.3 billion people living, working and building families in China. With such a high population, china needs to control the rapidly increasing population size so as to avoid the problem of over-population. 

In conclusion, we agree with the one child policy as this controls the overall population of China, ensuring that there will be no food shortages and to avoid over-population.