China's One Child Policy

CAUSES

Famine: 20-40million dead 1958-61 - strain on resources such as water and electricity

 Mao had wanted a large army and workforce to make China more powerful, so had encouraged lots of babies to be born.

CHINESE POPULATION

1950: 555mn

1979: 1.1bn

2015: 1.4bn

Rewards:

Priority housing 

Free schools and healthcare 

Interest free loans

Punishments:

Fines 4x annual wage

ID witheld

Forced or pressured to abort

EXCEPTIONS

• rural with first child a girl
• disabled children
• only child yourself
• ethnic minorities

Only 36% have to follow

SUCESSES

400 mn less children born

lower IM, higher LE

PROBLEMS

4-2-1 problem: less people work = less cheap labour china relys on

gender imbalance 120:100 girls nationwide

30-40mn men without a wife in the future = more crime.

little emporer syndrome - no relatives their own age

ageing population = less working = less tx revenue + more spending on elderly care. by 2050, 30% over 60

human rights abuses?