Family Structure: One Child Policy

In the late 1970s, China introduced its one-child policy to curb rapid population growth. This policy resulted in several problems.

The traditional preference for boys has created a gender imbalence as some couples opt for abortions when they found out that they are expecting a girl. The abortion rate hovers around 1 out of every 100, which is equivalent to more than 13 million abortions annually. In the near future, there would be much more males than females, resulting in many males to be unable to find a wife. As boys are more preferred, it was common to see girl infants abandoned at orphanages. Female infanticide, the act of intentionally killing female infants and fetus, is also an acknowledged problem in China.

This one-child policy also has resulted in a rising ration of elder to wage-earning adults---about 194 million Chinese over the age of 60 will have no or few children to care for them.

However, in 2013, there was a new policy that allows 2 children to couples where either parent is an only child is expected to create a minor population boost of about 1-2 million additional children born per year. This would help to ease the skewed gender ratio as well as the ratio of growing elderly to declining young.

-Clarissa Neo

Research Source: http://people.howstuffworks.com/one-child-policy1.htm