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CenTRAl CaSE STUdy

China’s One-Child Policy

ASIA
EUROPE
“The population problem concerns us, but it will
concern our children and grandchildren even more.

CHINA How we respond to the population threat may do
more to shape the world in which they will live than
anything else we do.”

—Lester Brown, President, Earth Policy Institute
“As you improve health in a society, population
AFRICA
growth goes down. . . . Before I learned about it,
I thought it was paradoxical.”
Indian —Bill Gates, Chair, Microsoft Corporation
Ocean

AUSTRALIA

The People’s Republic of China is the world’s most populous To further decrease the birth rate, in 1979 the government
nation, home to one-fifth of the 7 billion people living on Earth took the more drastic step of instituting a system of rewards
today. and punishments to enforce a one-child limit. One-child fami-
When Mao Zedong founded the country’s current regime lies received better access to schools, medical care, housing,
six decades ago roughly 540 million people lived in a mostly and government jobs, and mothers with only one child were
rural, war-torn, impoverished nation. Mao believed popula- given longer maternity leaves. In contrast, families with more
tion growth was desirable, and under his rule China grew and than one child were subjected to monetary fines, employment
changed. By 1970, improvements in food production, food discrimination, and social scorn and ridicule. In some cases,
distribution, and public health allowed China’s population to the fines exceeded half of a couple’s annual income.
swell to 790 million people. At that time, the average Chinese Population growth rates dropped still further, but public
woman gave birth to 5.8 children in her lifetime. resistance to the policy was simmering. Beginning in 1984, the
However, the country’s burgeoning population and its one-child policy was loosened, strengthened, and then loos-
industrial and agricultural development were eroding the ened again as government leaders explored ways to maximize
nation’s soils, depleting its water, leveling its forests, and pol- population control while minimizing public opposition. Today
luting its air. Chinese leaders realized that the nation might not the one-child program is less strict than in past years and ap-
be able to feed its people if their numbers grew much larger. plies mostly to families in urban areas. Many farmers and ethnic
They saw that continued population growth could exhaust minorities in rural areas are exempted, because success on the
resources and threaten the stability and progress of Chinese farm often depends on having multiple children.
society. The government decided to institute a population In enforcing its policies, China has been conducting one
control program that prohibited most Chinese couples from of the largest and most controversial social experiments in CHAPTER 8 • Hum A n Po P ul AT i on
having more than one child. history. In purely quantitative terms, the experiment has been a
The program began with education and outreach efforts major success: The nation’s growth rate is now down to 0.5%,
encouraging people to marry later and have fewer children making it easier for the country to deal with its many social,
(Figure 8.1). Along with these efforts, the Chinese government economic, and environmental challenges.
increased the availability of contraceptives and abortion. By However, the one-child policy has also produced
1975, China’s annual population growth rate had dropped from unintended consequences. Traditionally, Chinese culture has
2.8% to 1.8%. valued sons because they carry on the family name, assist with
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