The government recently introduced a new policy in China that would allow families to have up to two children. After nearly forty years of the previous and rather strict one-child policy to curb the rapidly growing population, that policy has been abandoned and replaced with this new one. Starting from October in 2015, it has been announced.
Why did the government impose this new policy and decide to scrap the one-child policy from before? The new two-child policy was introduced to China for several reasons.
The aging population has long since been a concern for the Chinese government. Several calculations and predictions have been made for the future. It has been predicted that by 2030, China would have lost over 65 million people of working-age. Just last year the number of workers fell by 3.71 million and the amount of people over the age of sixty would have risen by 10 million. This would greatly
affect the economic balance because with less workers, several industries might therefore shut down. Less workers to fill in the jobs will result in less productivity. There are less adult workers because of the one-child policy which was introduced in 1979.
The previously mentioned 65 million workers would have retired by 2030 and would have gained the elderly status. Stats like these would then double he number of elderly currently in the country. It is also common for elderly to get benefits or help from the government, therefore this many new elderly would quickly diminish the governments resources and furthermore put a dent in its economy. This new policy is supposed to help counteract the increasing amount of aging citizens.
Effects:
One of the positive effects would be on the moral of the population. The previous one-child policy has been very strict with several harsh punishments. Now, that the policy has been abandoned and replaced with the two-child policy, the population has apparently been celebrating this change on the social media.
Several specialists, like demographer Gietel-Basten said: “Millions of ordinary Chinese couples will be allowed to have a second child if they want to – this is clearly a very positive thing.” (Phillip, Tom)
Like explained, now that families get to have a choice for how many children they want, which increases their amount of freedom, they will be able to live happier lives knowing that they can make their own decisions.
With the new policy in place, there have been some predicted short-term effects. As an example, Liang Zhongtang, who is a demographer at the Shanghai Academy of Social Science, stated, that even with the one-child policy abolished, that does not ensure that people would immediately follow it. Gietel-Basten then explained: "In the short term, probably there will be a little baby boom particularly in some of the poorer provinces where the rules have been very strict" (Phillip, Tom). However, the change might not be that great.
Why did the government impose this new policy and decide to scrap the one-child policy from before? The new two-child policy was introduced to China for several reasons.
- The government has and is still concerned about its aging population (as mentioned in the page about the One-child Policy)
- Another important key factor is that the government is trying to restore balance to the ration of girls to boys in the Chinese population.
- It is believed that even without the strict one-child policy, families nowadays consider smaller families to be more convenient. Specialists also believe that the fertility rate has recently gone down over the years, resulting in fewer births.
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| Figure 3 Graph showing the elderly population rising in China (China Statistical Yearbook) |
affect the economic balance because with less workers, several industries might therefore shut down. Less workers to fill in the jobs will result in less productivity. There are less adult workers because of the one-child policy which was introduced in 1979.
The previously mentioned 65 million workers would have retired by 2030 and would have gained the elderly status. Stats like these would then double he number of elderly currently in the country. It is also common for elderly to get benefits or help from the government, therefore this many new elderly would quickly diminish the governments resources and furthermore put a dent in its economy. This new policy is supposed to help counteract the increasing amount of aging citizens.
Effects:
One of the positive effects would be on the moral of the population. The previous one-child policy has been very strict with several harsh punishments. Now, that the policy has been abandoned and replaced with the two-child policy, the population has apparently been celebrating this change on the social media.
Several specialists, like demographer Gietel-Basten said: “Millions of ordinary Chinese couples will be allowed to have a second child if they want to – this is clearly a very positive thing.” (Phillip, Tom)
Like explained, now that families get to have a choice for how many children they want, which increases their amount of freedom, they will be able to live happier lives knowing that they can make their own decisions.
With the new policy in place, there have been some predicted short-term effects. As an example, Liang Zhongtang, who is a demographer at the Shanghai Academy of Social Science, stated, that even with the one-child policy abolished, that does not ensure that people would immediately follow it. Gietel-Basten then explained: "In the short term, probably there will be a little baby boom particularly in some of the poorer provinces where the rules have been very strict" (Phillip, Tom). However, the change might not be that great.
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