1. Case Study 3 – China’s One Child Policy
1 – Chinese Demographics
2 – Population Planning in China

2. 1 Chinese Demographics Demographics...
More people than the combined population of Europe, the Americas and Japan.
Any change has global ramifications.
The demography of China is a powerful trend (1.29 billion).
About million people are added each year in 1980s.
Average of 13 million people per year in the 1990s.
10 million people per year in the 2000s.
400 million Chinese live in towns and cities (30-35%).
64% of the population lives in rural areas (950 millions).
343 million females are in their reproductive age.

3. The Population of China, 0-20501
The Population of China,
Source: Zhao, 1994.

4. Chinese Population, 1949-2000 (in millions) (projections to 2050)
Source: China Population Information and Research Center, 2000.

5. 1 Chinese Demographics The problems of controlling it...
The population exploded after 1949.
Population control was secondary.
Mao Zedong saw numbers as a workforce and a way to fight the Soviet Union and the United States.
Calls for women to “breed for the motherland”. “A large population makes for a stronger nation”
Population distribution
Excessive concentration.
50% of the population lives on 8.2% of the land.
Bulk of the population along the coast.
East China accounts for 90% of the population.
56%, about 728 million, are living in mountainous areas.
High density rural areas.

7. 1949-51 Population declines by 20 million due to famine
1960’s Baby boom

8. Issues
Population growth undermines Chinese development (education, health, transportation).
Acceleration of urbanization at the expense of arable land
About 10 million persons reach the employment market each year.

9. 1 Family Planning Early 1970s End of 1970s
Known as the “later-longer-fewer program”.
Authorized age of marriage 25 for men and 23 for women.
Wait later to begin their families, allow for longer spacing in between children, and have fewer children overall.
Began to reduce fertility levels.
Not fast enough to really slow down population growth due to the demographic momentum that had already developed.
End of 1970s
Government began to promote the two-child family throughout the country.
Slogan “One is best, at most two, never a third”.
Contributed to fertility decline but, again, not rapidly enough.

10. Later, Longer, fewer (promoting contraception)

11. 1 Family Planning One Child Policy
Launched in 1981 when the population reached 1 billion.
Initial goal: Stabilize China’s population at 1.2 billion.
Revised goal: Keep China’s population under 1.4 billion until 2010.
Population expected to stabilize around 1.6 billion by 2050.
Under the responsibility of the State Family Planning Commission (SFPC).
Population control perceived from a strategic point of view.
Great variations in performance between the country’s urban and rural areas.
Possible to enforce in China (totalitarian).
Would have been impossible in most other places.

13. 1 Family Planning Regulations of the policy
Employers and neighborhood committees had to enforce guidelines.
1) Authorization for marriage:
25 years for male and 23 years for female.
Students and apprentices not allowed to marry.
2) Monitoring menstrual cycles.
3) Contraceptive use mandatory:
UID used for women with already one child.
Incentives for sterilization after the birth of the first child.
Couples with two or more children had to have one partner sterilized (women 80% of the time).
4) All pregnancies must be authorized:
Authorized pregnancies had to be aborted.
7th, 8th or 9th month abortions are legal.

14. 1 Family Planning Incentives offered to couples with only one child:
Monthly allowances paid to couples with only one child.
Child entitled to free educational and medical services.
Disincentives used to discourage larger families:
Fine up to 15% of annual income.
Couples forced to give up all privileges if a second child was born and had to repay any cash awards it had received.
A third child denied free education, subsidized food, and housing privileges.
A third child’s parents would be penalized with a 10% reduction in wages.

15. 1 Family Planning Urban areas Rural areas Small sized apartments.
Improving one’s status and level of consumption.
Easier control from the government.
Rural areas
Families want more children to work the family plots and sustain parents when they get old.
Want sons who will continue the family line and provide ritual sacrifices to their ancestors after they die.
Daughters are leaving their family once they marry.
Girls are accounting for only 20 to 30% of a new demographic class in some areas.

16. Percentage of Women Having More Than One Child, 1998
Fertility reduction
Prevented about 300 million births since 1980.
When the program began (1970), Crude Birth Rate was 34 and TFR was around 6.
Been brought down to 10 (CBR) and 1.7 (TFR).
About 40% of Chinese women have been sterilized.
About 5% of women have more than one child.
Source: China Population Information and Research Center, 2000.

17. 1 Family Planning Fluctuations of fertility
Fertility has declined substantially before the OCP.
Reached a low in 1984.
Increased from the mid 1980s to the early 1990s.
Relaxation in enforcement in rural areas.
In 1986, 2 children per couple were allowed in rural areas.
In 1995, the restriction was lifted for urban areas.
Reductions in the authority of local officials responsible for implementing the program.
Sizeable age cohort entering their reproductive years.
Baby boom of the early 1960s (about 40% of the increase was due to this).
A decline in the age of marriage explained the other 60%.
Nearly 75% of this increase was offset by declines in the age-specific fertility rates.

18. 1 Chinese Demographics The 1990 Census
Counted billion Chinese in the PRC.
Believed to be the most accurate ever taken in China.
A greater than anticipated increase in population due in large part to the undercounts of earlier censuses.
Population was urbanizing.
The percentage of urban population had increased from 20.6% in 1982 to 26.2% by 1990.
An increase of 5.6% in just eight years.
Reflected job growth in the cities
Development of the private sector.
Government’s departure from socialist methods of production in the secondary sector.

19. Chinese Fertility Rate, 1949-1998
Source: China Population Information and Research Center, 2000.

20. 1 Family Planning Imbalanced sex ratio Psychological consequences:
Male children are more valued.
120 boys for 100 girls (national average).
Abandon or abortion of females.
“Missing female population” as girls are not declared.
2000: About 900,000 girls were missing (0 to 4 years group).
Only 1% of females are unmarried by the age of 30.
Psychological consequences:
Currently around 70 million single child.
4-2-1 syndrome (4 grand parents – 2 parents – 1 child):
“Little emperors” or “little empresses”.
Self-centrism.
Pressure to succeed.

21. Males minus Females, China, 20001
Males minus Females, China, 2000
Source: US Census Bureau, International Database

22. 1 Family Planning The Population and Family Planning Law
One-child policy was “a policy for one generation”.
Relaxed in the mid 1980s:
2 children permitted in rural areas.
A new family planning law started in 2002.
Same goal than the One-child policy, but offer more flexibility:
One child, but permission may be granted for a second under specific circumstances.
Late marriage and childbearing.
More flexibility for provinces, autonomous regions and minorities.
People in reproductive age have to use contraception.
Provisions for sex-determination and sex-specific abortions.
Government keeping a close eye on demographics to see if population control required.

23. Population Pyramid of China, 20001
Population Pyramid of China, 2000
Source: US Census Bureau, International Database

24. Population Pyramid of China, 20501
Population Pyramid of China, 2050
Source: US Census Bureau, International Database

25. Population Planning in China2
Population Planning in China
What would have happened if it was not applied?
Population by 2000 would have reached 1.6 billion (instead of 1.3).
Annual increase would be 40 million (instead of 17-19).
Require much higher level of economic development.
The total population will continue to increase
Even if the natural growth rate can be lowered to 1% by 2005.
Annual net increase of population will still be more than 10 million.
Will continue to increase in the next 50 years.
Even with effective family planning, China’s population will not stabilize until it reaches billion by 2050.

26. Population Planning in China2
Population Planning in China
Improve the quality of the population
Education and health.
2.5 million students entered Universities in 2001.
Tremendous incurred costs.
Potential surplus labor in rural areas
A result of the development of the rural economy and the higher rate of birth.
Large numbers of surplus rural labor who will need to transfer from the agricultural to a non-agricultural field.
Speed urbanization of the population and create bigger pressure on cities and towns.

27. Population Planning in China2
Population Planning in China
Aging of the population
Persons 65 years and older represent about 7 percent of the population.
In the 21st century, China’s population will continue this aging trend.
65 years old or older numbering 250 million by the year 2040.
Providing social security and services to a huge elderly population.