Beijing, Sept. 26: China marked the 30th anniversary of its controversial one-child policy with the talk of relaxing rules, at least in some provinces, that have reined in population growth but caused heart-ache for millions of couples.
With a population expected to peak at 1.65 billion in 2033, China has been cautious about dropping an unpopular policy that was originally supposed to last one generation. Central planners say the one-child policy has spared China from the pressures of hundreds of millions of additional people that would have strained scarce water and food resources as well as the nation’s ability to educate and employ them.
Critics cite forced abortions and sterilisations, punitive enforcement and a widening gender gap as the unwelcome legacy. Millions of baby girls are believed to have been aborted in a country which traditionally favours male heirs.
China already allows a number of exceptions to the policy, including allowing rural families a second child if the first is a girl, and permitting couples in some cities a second child if both parents had no siblings. “If population control reaches the expected goal, Guangdong is likely to let couples in which one of the two is an only child to have a second child after the Twelfth Five-Year plan,” Mr Zhang Feng, director of Guangdong population and family planning commission, told the Southern Metropolis Daily on Friday.