China abandons the imposition of the only child
About 90 million Chinese couples will be able to benefit from the new measure approved by their government, which allows having up to two children. The politics of the imposition of the only son implemented in this country since 1980, which has brought many complications such as the aging of the population and a serious imbalance between men and women, despite the fact that the Chinese government maintained for a long time that it was one of the factors that made economic growth possible.
The negative consequences of the one-child policy
Currently, the social engineering experiment implemented in China, the one child policy, has negative consequences such as the aging of the population, which is one of the great problems facing the country. The UN estimates that by 2035 China will have almost 400 million retirees, more than 25 percent of the population and forecasts a fall of 3 percent of the working-age population between 2015 and 2030. Now, these three decades of policy have ended With only one child, the workforce is expected to increase by some 30 million people by 2050.
Another serious problem of the imposition of the only son it is the important imbalance between men and women due to the cultural preference for men. In this way, according to official figures, in 2014 116 males were born for every 100 girls. This cumulative disproportion has generated an excess of 34 million men, which in turn is generating a migration of women to China from other poorer countries.
The right of families to decide
The policy of the only child prevented, according to experts, some 400 million births in the most populated country in the world, which already reaches 1,361 million people. However, the prohibition of having more than one child on families had exceptions for ethnic minorities and for the inhabitants of rural areas when the firstborn was a girl. In addition, already in 2013 it was approved that couples could have two children, when one of them was also an only child.
The elimination of the one-child policy has meant recognition by the government of the demographic imbalance that threatens China's future. The provincial authorities will be responsible for the details of the implementation of the new policy that will allow couples to have two children.
However, human rights organizations advocate for the rights of families to decide how many children they want to have and are against the state retaining control over all types of reproductive rights.
Marisol Nuevo Espín
