Publication

This paper asks whether China can economically afford to continue its one-child policy. The author states that 25 years after it was launched, China’s population control policy is credited with cutting population growth to an all time low and contributing to two decades of spectacular economic development. Yet the paper also points out that the costs associated with the policy are also apparent and rising rapidly as problems such as a growing proportion of elderly with inadequate government or family support, a disproportionately high number of male births attributable to sex selective abortion, increased female infant and child mortality rates, and the collapse of a credible government birth reporting system continue. The author explains that to help avoid a worsening of the demographic and social consequences already evident and in order relieve the Chinese government of the immense financial and political costs of enforcing an unpopular issue, a change of the one-child policy should be considered.