| Friday, July 31, 2009 |
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CHINA/ The beginning of the end of the one-child policy
By Nireesh @ 11:56 AM :: 120 Views ::
0 Comments ::  :: Asia
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It's been more than 30 years since China instituted its one-child policy - whose enforcement led to charges of forced abortions, the abandonment of vast numbers of girl-babies to orphanages or death, the practice of sex-selective abortion, and, in rural areas, permission to have a second child if the first was a girl. Where politicians in Western democracies support abortion as part of a woman's "right to choose," China's policy made abortion widely available but took away the choice. The program was always defended as a necessary protection against over-population.
So it was a surprise to read, this week, that the city of Shanghai, one of China's largest and most crowded, is now actively encouraging couples to have a second baby. Why? Because of "the growing demographic imbalance in the city and fears that the younger generation will not be able to support the aging population."
“We advocate eligible couples to have two kids because it can help to reduce the proportion of the ageing people and alleviate a workforce shortage in the future,” said Xie Linli, the director of the Shanghai Population and Family Planning Commission.
Shanghai is already a city where 1 in 5 residents is an elderly person, a figure that is expected to rise to 34% by 2020. Some say that China is a country "destined to grow old before it grows rich" which makes the care of the old a burden that cannot be sustained. The U.S. Center for Strategic and International Studies estimates that, by 2050, there will only be 1.6 working age adults to support each person age 60 or above.
The cost (in time and effort as well as money) to support the elderly, though, is making the option of a 2nd child less attractive. Many Shanghai couples say they will forego the new option, because "it costs so much just for one child" and - in one of China's most prosperous cities - choosing to have a second would, for some, cut into a consumerist lifestyle that they are just coming to enjoy. An unscientific online poll came out against the policy, usually citing the reason that "there are already too many people in China.
Comments to the online poll were divided among those who supported or opposed the new policy. The common thread, though, was the fact that decades of the one-child policy has undermined the centuries-old focus on family life in China. Even those who are aware of falling populations in western Europe and their impact still say that it's just not worth it to have another child.
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