China to ease decades-old one-child policy nationwide, China will ease family planningrestrictions nationwide, the government said on Friday, allowingmillions of families to have two children in the country's mostsignificant liberalisation of its strict one-child policy inabout three decades.
Couples in which one parent is an only child will now beable to have a second child, one of the highlights of a sweepingraft of reforms announced three days after the ruling CommunistParty ended a meeting that mapped out policy for the nextdecade.
The plan to ease the policy was envisioned by the governmentabout five years ago as officials worried that the strictcontrols were undermining economic growth and contributing to arapidly ageing population the country had no hope of supportingfinancially.
A growing number of scholars had long urged the governmentto reform the policy, introduced in the late 1970s to preventpopulation growth spiraling out of control, but now regarded bymany experts as outdated and harmful to the economy.
While the easing of the controls will not have a substantialdemographic impact in the world's most populous nation, it couldpave the way for the abolition of the policy.
"The demographic significance is minimal but the politicalsignificance is substantial," said Wang Feng, a sociologyprofessor at Fudan University specialising in China'sdemographics, before the announcement.
"This is one of the most urgent policy changes that we'vebeen awaiting for years. What this will mean is a very speedyabolishment of the one-child policy."
In the 1980s, the government allowed rural families with agirl to have two children, Wang said. "Ever since the '80s,there's been nothing as clear as this," he said.
Wang Guangzhou, a demographer from top governmentthink-tank, the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, estimatedthe new policy would affect 30 million women of child-bearingage In a country which has nearly 1.4 billion people.
Although it is known internationally as the one-childpolicy, China's rules governing family planning are morecomplicated. Under current rules, urban couples are permitted asecond child if both parents do not have siblings and ruralcouples are allowed to have two children if their first-born isa girl.
There are numerous other exceptions as well, includinglooser rules for ethnic minorities and allowing parents who arethemselves only children to have two children at most.
Any couple violating the policy has to pay a large fine.
The one-child policy covers 63 per cent of the country'spopulation and Beijing says it has averted 400 million birthssince 1980.
Many analysts say the one-child policy has shrunk China'slabour pool, hurting economic growth. For the first time indecades the working age population fell in 2012, and China couldbe the first country in the world to get old before it getsrich.
"It's not a huge reform, there have been small adjustmentsall along," said Liang Zhongtang, a demographer from theShanghai Academy of Social Sciences.
"I am just worried that they will make no furtheradjustments for a very long time after they've made this one."
Tian Xueyuan, a retired family planning scholar who helpeddraft the original one-child policy, told Reuters the rules wereonly meant to last about 25 years.
"They could have implemented this policy several years ago,"he said.
Numerous studies have shown the detrimental effects of theone-child policy. China's labour force, at about 930 million,will start declining in 2025 at a rate of about 10 million ayear, projections show. Meanwhile, its elderly population willhit 360 million by 2030, from about 200 million today.
A skewed gender ratio is another consequence.
Like most Asian nations, China has a traditional bias forsons. Many families abort female fetuses or abandon baby girlsto ensure their only child is a son. About 118 boys are born forevery 100 girls, against a global average of 103-107 boys per100 girls.
Family planning officials have been known to compel women tohave abortions to meet birth-rate targets.
Still, the adjustment is likely to be popular.
Zhang Yuanyuan, who has a one-year-old son, said she hadalready decided to have one more child before the new policy andwas willing to pay the fine.
"We are very, very happy about this new policy," Zhang toldReuters.
Couples in which one parent is an only child will now beable to have a second child, one of the highlights of a sweepingraft of reforms announced three days after the ruling CommunistParty ended a meeting that mapped out policy for the nextdecade.
The plan to ease the policy was envisioned by the governmentabout five years ago as officials worried that the strictcontrols were undermining economic growth and contributing to arapidly ageing population the country had no hope of supportingfinancially.
A growing number of scholars had long urged the governmentto reform the policy, introduced in the late 1970s to preventpopulation growth spiraling out of control, but now regarded bymany experts as outdated and harmful to the economy.
While the easing of the controls will not have a substantialdemographic impact in the world's most populous nation, it couldpave the way for the abolition of the policy.
"The demographic significance is minimal but the politicalsignificance is substantial," said Wang Feng, a sociologyprofessor at Fudan University specialising in China'sdemographics, before the announcement.
"This is one of the most urgent policy changes that we'vebeen awaiting for years. What this will mean is a very speedyabolishment of the one-child policy."
In the 1980s, the government allowed rural families with agirl to have two children, Wang said. "Ever since the '80s,there's been nothing as clear as this," he said.
Wang Guangzhou, a demographer from top governmentthink-tank, the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, estimatedthe new policy would affect 30 million women of child-bearingage In a country which has nearly 1.4 billion people.
Although it is known internationally as the one-childpolicy, China's rules governing family planning are morecomplicated. Under current rules, urban couples are permitted asecond child if both parents do not have siblings and ruralcouples are allowed to have two children if their first-born isa girl.
There are numerous other exceptions as well, includinglooser rules for ethnic minorities and allowing parents who arethemselves only children to have two children at most.
Any couple violating the policy has to pay a large fine.
The one-child policy covers 63 per cent of the country'spopulation and Beijing says it has averted 400 million birthssince 1980.
Many analysts say the one-child policy has shrunk China'slabour pool, hurting economic growth. For the first time indecades the working age population fell in 2012, and China couldbe the first country in the world to get old before it getsrich.
"It's not a huge reform, there have been small adjustmentsall along," said Liang Zhongtang, a demographer from theShanghai Academy of Social Sciences.
"I am just worried that they will make no furtheradjustments for a very long time after they've made this one."
Tian Xueyuan, a retired family planning scholar who helpeddraft the original one-child policy, told Reuters the rules wereonly meant to last about 25 years.
"They could have implemented this policy several years ago,"he said.
Numerous studies have shown the detrimental effects of theone-child policy. China's labour force, at about 930 million,will start declining in 2025 at a rate of about 10 million ayear, projections show. Meanwhile, its elderly population willhit 360 million by 2030, from about 200 million today.
A skewed gender ratio is another consequence.
Like most Asian nations, China has a traditional bias forsons. Many families abort female fetuses or abandon baby girlsto ensure their only child is a son. About 118 boys are born forevery 100 girls, against a global average of 103-107 boys per100 girls.
Family planning officials have been known to compel women tohave abortions to meet birth-rate targets.
Still, the adjustment is likely to be popular.
Zhang Yuanyuan, who has a one-year-old son, said she hadalready decided to have one more child before the new policy andwas willing to pay the fine.
"We are very, very happy about this new policy," Zhang toldReuters.
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