China’s three children policy

The country’s fertility rate has now dropped to 1.3, far below the replacement level of 2.1 necessary for each generation to be fully replenished.

China has announced it will allow three children per married couple — five years after it first relaxed its controversial one-child policy to two. This comes days after the country’s census data showed population growth slipping to its slowest rate since the 1950s. Read more about the policy shift of the country here-

China’s one-child policy, which had been enforced by then-leader Deng Xiaoping in 1980, had remained in place until 2016, when fears of a rapidly ageing population undermining economic growth forced the ruling Communist Party to allow two children per married couple. While the relaxation did result in some improvement in the proportion of young people in the country, the policy change was deemed insufficient in averting an impending demographic crisis.

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One-child policy- how did it work

China embarked upon its one-child policy in 1980, when the Communist Party was concerned that the country’s growing population, which at the time was approaching one billion, would impede economic progress.

The policy, which was implemented more effectively in urban areas, was enforced through several means, including incentivising families financially to have one child, making contraceptives widely available, and imposing sanctions against those who violated the policy.

Chinese authorities claimed that it helped the country avert severe food and water shortages by preventing up to 40 crore people from being born.

Did relaxing the one-child policy help?

From 2016, the Chinese government finally allowed two children per couple – a policy change that did little to arrest the rapid fall in population growth. China’s 2020 census data, released earlier this month, shows the country’s rate of population growth falling rapidly despite the 2016 relaxation.

Last year, 1.2 crore babies were born in China, down from 1.465 crore in 2019 — a fall of 18 per cent in one year, as per its National Bureau of Statistics.

Falling fertility rate

The country’s fertility rate has now dropped to 1.3, far below the replacement level of 2.1 necessary for each generation to be fully replenished.

The United Nations expects China’s population to begin declining after 2030, but some experts say this could happen as early as in the next one or two years. By 2025, the country is set to lose its ‘most populous’ tag to India, which in 2020 had an estimated 138 crore people, 1.5 per cent behind China.

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