Was China's one child policy effective?

Thirty years after the introduction of China's one-child policy, the government is being urged to rethink its population controls. read more

Image caption After three decades, the drawbacks of the one-child policy are more and more apparent During the period that I grew up in China in the 1960s and 70s, Chinese families could have as many children as they liked. Many had four or five children. Some even had six or seven. My parents had four children. read more

China's One Child policy was too effective. Even schools were squeezed by the drop in students at the end of the 'naughties'. But the increase in retirees was the big problem, especially as another policy rewarded early retirement. Chinese men could retire at 60 and women at 55. read more

China’s one-child policy has been controversial ever since it was implemented in the 1970s. This paper measures the effect of the policy on fertility and demographics in China. The study finds that the policy has had a large effect on fertility rates overall but that this has not been uniform across the population. read more

400m births prevented: what China’s one-child policy did to its population Desperate attempts by China to curb population growth in 1979 led the communist authorities to offer couples condoms, coils, sterilisation and financial rewards as part of its one-child policy. read more