What and When
- The one child policy came into place in 1979 after the leader Deng Xiaoping saw future problems
- Between 1949 and 1976 there was a population explosion and the problems started to begin and affected the food supply
- The one child policy’s aim is to encourage the couples of china to have only one child to reduce the population
- In rural areas, parents whose first child was a girl, or parents who are both single children, can apply to have a second child. But there are also laws relating to the age of women who want to have a second child. In many rural provinces such as Shandong, for example, women who apply to have a second child must be at least 30 years old, and have to have been aged over 25 when they had their first child.
- There are currently five workers for every pensioner. This ratio will fall to two by 2035.
Where and Why
- China is situated in eastern Asia
- Overpopulated around the eastern border where most of the big cities are such as Shanghai and Beijing
- Fines are more expensive the more densely populated the area you live in is, so if you live in the capitol city, Beijing, you have to pay an extremely high fine, because there are so many people.
How?
- The government tries to encourage the couples of the population to have only one child
- To make the couples have one child the government gives them rewards for doing it such as….
- There are also a lot of posters promoting the one child policy such as the one above. It used to be that a lot of baby girls were being abandoned because they are regarded as a lower status than boys. But to try and fix that problem they have said that if a girl is born first then another child can be born.
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Advantages of the OCP
- Managed to add some control to the out of control population and it will also help for the future
- The poorer people in china can get money for having only one child so it can help their way of life
- Better for china’s environment as there is less pollution
- The resources won’t be as stretched as there are fewer people
- Although the rule seems harsh there are exceptions to the rule so it isn’t as harsh as it first sounds
- Population density in the cities has decreased leaving more living space
- The one child can have a better quality of life, if there was more children the family might not be able to support the costs
- 76% of the Chinese population agrees with this policy
- Without the policy the population would have been 1.7 billion people instead of the 1.3 billion people it is now
Disadvantages of the OCP
- 336m abortions, illegal and legal, take place and it is terribly distressing for the families
- The policy could lead to an aging population because there are less young people to work – China’s workforce shrank by 3 million people
- There is an estimated workforce shortage of 140 million workers by the year 2030
- Getting rid of the policy could result in an extra 9.5 million births every year which will make the population spiral out of control
- 56% of the population said that they would want another child in a survey that took place recently.