Photo courtesy of Peter Garnhum via Flickr.
By Erik Walenza-Slabe – International Affairs Review
After thirty-three years of implementation, China’s controversial One-Child Policy has come under government review. China is unique in many respects, not least because it alone has imposed strict population controls on its citizenry, preventing about 400 million births since 1980. Unlike public sentiment toward other strict and unpopular policies in non-democratic regimes, China’s populace has largely accepted regulating childbirth..
Despite sustained criticism abroad, the policy is supported by 76 percent of Chinese. Widespread support derives from recognition that overpopulation reduces quality of life. Further, decentralized implementation coupled with loopholes for rural and minority Chinese leaves only 36 percent of families restricted to a single child. (Those families can opt to pay a fine for a second or third child.) The “double-singles” loophole, for example, allows some spouses who are both single children to have two children. The majority of urban Chinese in their 20s and early 30s now fit this category. As a result, the average Chinese family has roughly 1.8 children per household.
For full article: http://www.iar-gwu.org/node/322
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