Geography - China's One Child Policy
By Warren MANSLL
What?
The one child policy is a anti natalist policy meant to decrease the total population of china thought higher wages and taxes and fines for all whom do not follow the rules. This policy works because it is most traditionally enforces and couples are encouraged to have only one child, if the first child is a girl parents are allowed to have another child and after the second child that would be discouraged form having any other children.
When?
The one child policy was first put into place in 1978 where it was tested for a year then enforced around the hole of china.
Where?
Why?
The one child policy was instituted 30 years ago as a humanitarian response to China's over-population problem. Too many people versus limited resources is the core issue. Like every other country, China only has so much land, water, food, and natural resources. There are 1,330,000,000 people living in China and they all need water, food, housing, education, jobs, advancement opportunity, and a myriad of other requirements. Any large increase to the existing population would prevent economic and social stability for China's people.
How?
The one child policy works by allowing famillies to have one child, if they have anymore children then they will receive a fine based on there income. There are exception, like if the first chiild was a girl then the familly is allowed to have another child and hope that it is a girl.
Advantages
Social problems alleviation: this policy was introduced in 1978 and initially applied to first-born children from 1979. It was created by the Chinese government to alleviate social, economic, and environmental problems in China, and authorities claim that the policy has prevented more than 250 million births between 1980 and 2000, and 400 million births from about 1979 to 2011.
Lower the fertility rate: After the introduction of the one-child policy, the fertility rate in China fell from 2.63 births per woman in 1980 (already a sharp reduction from more than five births per woman in the early 1970s) to 1.61 in 2009. However, the policy itself is probably only partially responsible for the reduction in the total fertility rate.
Poverty eradication: In China’s poor areas, economic and cultural backwardness and too many births often interact as both cause and effect. The Chinese government has taken a step in giving support to the development of poor areas to alleviate poverty by promoting family planning, holding population growth under control, and raising the life quality of the population in those areas.
Public support: a 2008 survey undertaken by the Pew Research Center reported that 76% of the Chinese population supports the policy.
Disadavantages
Policy benefits exagerated: Another criticism is that the claimed effects of the policy on the reduction in the total fertility rate are exaggerated. Studies by Chinese demographers, funded in part by the UN Fund for Population Activities, showed that combining poverty alleviation and health care with relaxed targets for family planning was more effective at reducing fertility than vigorous enforcement of very ambitious fertility reduction targets.
Human rights violation and forced abortions: The one-child policy is challenged in principle and in practice for violating a human right to determine the size of one’s own family. According to a 1968 proclamation of the International Conference on Human Rights, “Parents have a basic human right to determine freely and responsibly the number and the spacing of their children.” In 2002, China outlawed the use of physical force to make a woman submit to an abortion or sterilization, but it is not entirely enforced. In the execution of the policy, many local governments still demand abortions if the pregnancy violates local regulations, or even force abortions on women violating the policy, such as Feng Jianmei’s case.
The “four-two-one” problem: As the first generation of law-enforced only-children came of age for becoming parents themselves, one adult child was left with having to provide support for his or her two parents and four grandparents. Called the “4-2-1 Problem”, this leaves the older generations with increased chances of dependency on retirement funds or charity in order to receive support. If personal savings, pensions, or state welfare fail, most senior citizens would be left entirely dependent upon their very small family or neighbours for assistance.
Possible social problems for a generation of only children: Some parents may over-indulge their only child. The media referred to the indulged children in one-child families as “little emperors”. Since the 1990s, some people have worried that this will result in a higher tendency toward poor social communication and cooperation skills among the new generation, as they have no siblings at home. No social studies have investigated the ratio of these over-indulged children and to what extent they are indulged. With the first generation of children born under the policy reaching adulthood, such worries were reduced.