One-Child Policy Britannica Online

The One-Child Policy was a rule made by the Chinese government in the late 1970s and early 1980s to limit each family to only having one child. This was done to slow down the growth of China's huge population. In 2015, it was announced that this rule would end in 2016.

When the People's Republic of China was established in 1949, the government encouraged people to use birth control, but it wasn't until after Mao Zedong died in 1976 that they began seriously thinking about controlling population growth. By the late 1970s, China was close to having one billion people, and the leaders, including Deng Xiaoping, wanted to slow this growth. They started with a voluntary program in 1978 asking families to only have two children or preferably one. By 1979, they pushed for families to only have one child. This became an official policy in 1980 that was supposed to apply to everyone, though some exceptions were made, like for ethnic minorities or families with a disabled first child. The policy was stricter in cities than in rural areas and included penalties for those who didn't follow it, as well as rewards for those who did.

As a result, the number of children born in China dropped significantly after 1980. However, this led to an imbalance with more boys being born than girls because of a preference for male children, and it also resulted in a growing number of elderly people who didn't have enough younger family members to support them.

There were some changes made to the policy over time, allowing some families to have more than one child. In 2015, the policy officially ended, and starting in 2016, all families were allowed to have two children. However, this change didn't lead to a big increase in birth rates because many couples were worried about the costs and impacts of having another child. In 2021, the government allowed families to have up to three children and promised to support this with new policies to encourage more births.

This policy had a big impact on China's population and has led to challenges, including an aging population and fewer young people entering the workforce.