I have recently seen multiple articles claiming China will ease up on its one-child policy. This policy was set in place to control the population in the ever-growing People’s Republic of China.
This family-planning policy was set into motion in 1979. Since then, there have been an estimated 200 million avoided births. The exceptions to this policy include families in rural areas who may have a second child if their firstborn is a girl or is disabled. The other exceptions include ethnic minorities and parents who are both born as an only child.
Although the rule was reportedly supported by 76 percent of the population of China, there is a sex imbalance. Because of the one-child policy, many Chinese couples would abort their pregnancy if they were going to have a baby girl.
Therefore, there are many men, approximately 24 million, who will go unmarried and without children. Reports show that this will cause men to be more dependent on social security when they become older and they will have less household resources to rely on.
Not to mention, there may be a growth in inter-generational marriages where a woman marries a man much younger in comparison. However, it is thought that many females born in China have gone unregistered and therefore the gender imbalance may not be as unequal as reported.
Along with the problem for men, the one child policy creates a host of problems for women. Forced abortion and sterilization has become common for females in China.
Also, children are handed the burden of not only caring for their parents when they become elderly but also their grandparents. With the one child rule, they have no one to help them take care of these six elderly people.
The government in China has made the decision to relax this rule. Two children will be allowed to couples as long as one of them is an only child. This will create a larger workforce, as the current workforce is dwindling, hopefully less abortions, a healthier lifestyle for women, less single men and overall more freedom for the people of China.
