China’s two-child policy could be brought to an end under new plans. Family life in China may be about to change as the old controversial policy of limiting the number of children could be scrapped.
Currently, having more than two children is punishable by fine in China but for much of the last four decades, couples have only been able to have one.
In the past, the policy of limiting families to one child resulted in some women being forced undergo abortions and sterilization.
China’s communist party first brought in a one-child policy nearly 40 years ago, to slow population growth, but it has meant the nation now faces a problem of a shrinking workforce.
There are also gender imbalances and concerns are growing about social problems this could cause. For more than 35 years, the country’s women were restricted to having only one child a policy that was implemented due to population growth and food shortages.
Although the one-child policy was increased to two children in 2016, the rate of childbirths has not gone up as much as expected.
In 2017, births slipped to 17.23m. China’s population is 1.4bn. Speculation was fueled earlier this month when the government released stamps to mark the year of the pig, featuring a boar and a sow with three piglets.
The draft code is being discussed this week by the Standing Committee at the National People’s Congress and is expected to be complete by 2020.
Speculation of a change in government thinking was fuelled earlier this month with the release of stamps to mark the year of the pig, featuring a boar and a sow with three piglets.
About 25% of China’s population is expected to be at least 60 years old by 2030.Too few workers to support the growing number of senior citizens has sounded alarm bells.
Leta Hong Fincher, author of Betraying Big Brother: The Feminist Awakening in China, said: “It’s quite clear that the Chinese government is increasingly alarmed at the low birth rate and the failure to produce the expected boost in births by easing the one-child policy.”
>Juthy Saha
