China’s one-child policy The governments point of view

One child Policy One of the main problems facing China in recent years is overpopulation. The Chinese government needed to make policies to combat the quickly growing numbers of Chinese citizens. In 1979 the Family Planning Commission of China implemented the One-Child Policy as a solution. The One- Child Policy states that parents in urban settings are limited to having only one child. Parents in rural areas are allowed two children provided the first is a girl. Boys are highly valued in Chinese culture, and this value especially applies to more rural areas.

Background to one-child policy In the early days of the People's Republic, Chairman Mao urged Chinese to bear as many children as possible to "make China stronger." The population nearly doubled from Now with more than 1.2 billion people, China has the largest population in the world--one-fifth of the total. And every year the country adds another 12 million. However, China only has 7% of the world's arable land and fresh water, 3% of the forests and only 2% of the oil. And although China's landmass is roughly the same size as the USA,, it has 4.5 times the population.

Possible failings The likely explanation to possible failure is that there are limits to how far government policies can push demographic changes. Policies emphasizing later marriage and fewer children in the 1970s clearly played a part in lowering total fertility rates. Contraceptive usage in China by the early 1980s was extraordinarily high for Asia at 71 percent of women of reproductive age.

Conclusion People have argued that China’s one child policy is an inhumane way of keeping a population under control. However, it has helped to keep China from a population crisis.