Policy Case Study: Population Policy

Document Type

Book Chapter

Publication Date

2024

Published In

Politics In China: An Introduction

Abstract

In service of its modernization goals, China adopted a one-child policy in 1979. Implementation required close monitoring of urban childbearing-age women and the use of coercive mass campaign tactics, particularly in the countryside. Despite the use of many methods to avoid the birth limit, rapid economic development, free access to contraception, and the persistent use of campaigns and other punitive methods resulted by 2000 in a decline of China’s fertility level to below replacement levels. Among the most severe consequences of the policy were the impact of son preference, which contributed to a severe sex ratio imbalance among newborns, and rapid population aging, which increased China’s dependency ratio, reduced the size of the labor force, and threatened continued economic growth. In response to these issues, policy relaxation and reform came in 2015 with a two-child limit and in 2023 with a three-child limit.

Keywords

China, one-child policy, birth planning, sex ratio at birth, population aging, dependency ratio, demographic transition demographic structure, sex-selective abortion, demographic transition

Edition

4th

Published By

Oxford University Press

Editor(s)

W. A. Joseph

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