The Economic and Social Impacts of China’s One Child Policy Essay Sample free essay sample

In 1949. the Communists came to power in China. Between 1949 and 1984 merely three population nose counts were conducted. Very small information from the 1953 and 1964 nose counts was released by the Chinese authorities. Western research workers and demographists pieced together information to assist make a image of China’s population. Harmonizing to these research workers and demographists. China’s population in 1949 was about 541. 7 million. By 1982. the population had about doubled to 1008. 2 million. A series of events between 1958 and 1961 lead to one of the greatest dearths in China’s history and caused the Chinese authorities to get down believing about population control. Drought. inundations. and monsoon along with political and economic jobs created by the failure of the Great Leap Forward came together to make one of the greatest human calamities in China’s history. The Chinese authorities reported 15 million deceases. but harmonizing to Frank D ikotter. a historiographer who was given entree to China’s archives from the period. the decease toll was closer to 45 million. In response to turning concerns over what an tremendous and turning population would intend to China’s hereafter. the authorities established the first national Family Planning Office in 1964. The Family Planning Office was put in charge of China’s birthrate decrease plans. In the beginning. their attempts were focused chiefly in urban centres. The plans spread to rural China after Chairman Mao declared the terminal of the Cultural Revolution in 1969. Early attempts focused on a media run promoting Chinese twosomes to get married at subsequently ages. postpone get downing households for several old ages after matrimony. and holding fewer kids. The run was a success. but decreases in population growing began to level off by the late seventiess. It was at this clip. 1979. that China’s One Child Policy ( OPC ) was introduced. The One Child Policy limited twosomes from China’s bulk Han population to one kid. nevertheless twosomes in rural states where kids were needed as labourers on the household farm were allowed to hold two kids and twosomes belonging to China’s cultural minorities. groups like the Zhuang. Mongols. and Tibetan. faced no limitatio ns. Since its beginning in 1979. the policy has changed small. but China has changed a great trade. Since China introduced the One Child Policy. population denseness has dropped well. In 1949. China’s birth rate was 3. 6 per centum. Today. the birth rate is between 1. 4 per centum and 1. 6 per centum ; among the lowest in the universe. Until late. China’s big population has benefitted employers and China itself. In add-on to cut downing overpopulation. China’s One Child Policy has lowered the demand for societal services and the usage of natural resources. With more occupations than workers. employers have been able to maintain wages low. Lower wages have kept production costs low for industries in China. Lower wages and production costs have allowed China to sell goods at lower monetary values than their competition. This has helped China go the world’s prima adventurer of goods and has fueled its enormous economic growing. Between 1979 and 2000. China’s economic system has grown. on norm. 9. 6 per centum per twelvemonth. the highest of all economic systems in the universe. China’s economic growing coupled with the greater fiscal resources held by single-child families have boosted single economy. up to 50 per centum of Gross Domestic Product at times. More than twice that of oth er Asiatic states and five times that of the United States. The handiness of those nest eggs dollars has helped fuel China’s singular economic growing. As China’s population growing continues to drop. its working age population is besides shriveling and its aged population is turning. It is projected that each wining coevals will be 20 % smaller than the old coevals. This diminution will get down an economic Domino consequence. Fewer workers will ensue in labour deficits and increased labour costs which in return will drive up production costs every bit good. Higher labour and production costs will ensue in higher retail monetary values. doing goods produced in China less competitory in the planetary market place. This could ensue in fewer Chinese exports. weakening China’s economic system. Harmonizing to a study conducted in 2011. about half of the employers in mainland China had increased employee rewards from between 6 and 10 per centum. in 2010. and a surprising 90 per centum said they expected to increase wages in 2011 by at least 6 per centum. Because the One Child Policy allows rural households to hold two kids and cultural minorities to hold every bit many kids as they want. China’s rural states account for about all of China’s population growing. This has created an employment crisis in rural China ; non plenty occup ations for excessively many people. Until now many rural Chinese have been forced to go forth the metropolis to happen work. However. that is a tendency that is get downing to alter. Faced with lifting labour costs. many Chinese makers are traveling their mills off from China’s coastal towns and metropoliss to rural states inland. Additionally. many transnational corporation that moved operations to China to take advantage of the big. cheap. labour force are now traveling some or all of their operations from China to neighbouring states such as Vietnam and Cambodia. Demographers predict that in the old ages 2030 and 2050 China’s over 60 population will increase from about 11 per centum to about 36 per centum ; a treble addition. The per centum of the population over 80 is expected to quadruple ; turning from 1. 8 per centum to 6. 8 per centum. This rapid ripening of China’s population will necessitate the authorities to travel resources from other countries to plans and services for its aged population. With each consecutive coevals. more and more fiscal resources will be needed to pay for wellness attention and societal plans to back up and prolong an aging population. In add-on to the economic challenges that face China as a consequence of its One Child Policy at that place have been. and go on to be. societal challenges every bit good. For adult females there is a batch of fright. Reports of forced abortions and sterilisations. married woman stealing. colza. and female infanticide are common. With the spread of societal media. more and more Chinese adult females are talking out about their personal experiences. One of these adult females is Feng Jianmei. Jianmei had a 2nd kid. but was unable to pay the $ 6. 300 mulct when household planning functionaries came to roll up the mulct. Jianmei. who was seven months pregnant at the clip was physically dragged to a local infirmary and injected with chemicals that killed her unborn babe. When Jianmei’s to the full formed. but dead girl was delivered her sister took images and her cousin posted the images and Jianmei’s narrative on the cyberspace. The One Child Policy has besides created a gender instability in China. In 2005. there were 120. 5 males to every 100 females. The instability is even greater in rural states. every bit high as 137 males to every 100 females. This means more work forces will be viing over a smaller group of adult females for married womans. Many believe this will set more force per unit are a on the Chinese authorities to let immigrant brides. With life anticipation and the figure of aged increasing faster than of all time before there will be more force per unit area on the one kid. whether male or female. With two parents and perchance four grandparents dependant on them there will be more emphasis on these individual kids to acquire a good instruction and a well-paying occupation. Military service. because of the hazards involved. will likely non be an acceptable calling option. With more competition for fewer occupations there is concern that suicide rates among immature Chinese will increase. Even with China’s strong economic system. the One Child Policy has several drawbacks. Since the population has decreased. the figure of labourers has started to worsen every bit good. With the figure of workers falling. the sum of goods and services will diminish Another disadvantage of the One Child Policy is the societal wellness of China’s citizens. peculiarly adult females. When Chinese adult females become pregnant. they live with fright in their lives ; the babe that is inside them could perchance be a miss and if it is a miss. the parents could abandon the kid at birth. arrange for an abortion. or after birth they might kill the babe. None of the female parents out there are happy about acquiring rid of their kids. no parent would. but the One Child Policy enforces the one kid per household jurisprudence. Most Chinese households are non rich plenty to pay the â€Å"tax† for another kid. China’s Communist Party either has non seen the unwanted effects. or has ignored them and continues to. Apparently. they have non noticed the conditions of their citizens societal wellness is undergoing. The married womans are concealing in fright because they are afraid of being stolen or perchance raped. This is due to the uneven sex ratio in China. ( Girls clean house and make other house jobs at place here as male childs are more in favour in China since they will take attention of their parents in their old age ; take attention of fundss and work. This has traditionally been the Chinese penchant and delivery in the One Child Policy has strengthened the favorability of male childs over misss.