China is one of the most numerous countries in the world. It happened historically. Many families in this country are large. The territory of China, although large, but its population in abundance. Because of this, the country's authorities decided to influence the demographic situation by issuing the decree "One family - one child."
Features of this decree
This policy was introduced in the country in the 70s of the last century. It is connected with the fact that at that time in China there were many large families. Because of this, the country's economy and living standards declined. There was nowhere to resettle large families - they simply did not have enough square meters for living. As a result, such families demanded the care of the state, benefits, and so on. Therefore, for families where only one child was born, all the best that the state could give at that time was provided. And for those who for some reason still had children, the fine was from 4 to 8 average annual incomes of the region where the family lived. Parents literally bought out children.
"One family - one child" - politics in China - aimed at reducing the population by 2000 to 1.2 billion people. Administrative measures were introduced, contraceptives were actively promoted, and abortion became popular. But why is China so populated?
Historical background to large families in China
China has been famous for its large population since the time of the samurai. They were actively engaged in land development, while their wives followed family life and gave birth to children. This tradition began to continue actively after the Second World War. At this time, the country's authorities saw that many people died in the world, in their own state it was necessary to raise the economic level of development, and the installation was made for large families. The birth of 3-4 children in the family was actively encouraged.
When the population began to grow rapidly, attempts were made to reduce these rates, various restrictions were introduced for families. But the most extreme measure of influence on the demographic situation in the country was the policy of "One family - one child" in China. It was officially adopted in 1979.
Features of population accounting in China
This policy already at that time had its pitfalls and shortcomings. Everything is connected with the peculiarities of accounting for the population and attitude to the female sex. In China, there is no registration of children born, and registration is conducted only by the number of deaths in the family for 1 year. This approach does not satisfy the demand for the exact number of people in the country, therefore it is more than statistics.
The One Family, One Child policy immediately ran into problems at the gender level. In this country, the attitude towards the female sex is not the same as in Europe. Women there are an order of magnitude lower than men in status and rights. Therefore, when a girl first appeared in the family, parents clandestinely sought permission to have a second child. It turned out that the authorities decided who gave birth a second time, and who should not.
How are children related to the country's economy?
As a result of the “One Family - One Child” policy, the authorities nevertheless achieved some positive aspects. The age composition of the Chinese has changed, and the approach to family financing has also changed somewhat. The state spends much less on one child than on three or five. As a result of this, the question of raising wages is not an acute issue, thereby cheap labor is maintained with increased working capacity of the population. In addition, women, freed from the obligation to monitor small children, could go to work earlier, which also favorably affected the economic growth of the state. In addition, the authorities did not have to think about how to feed and teach second and subsequent children.
All this is good, and there was even an ideal period for the country, when there are already few children, and the elderly are few. But the policy of "One Family - One Child" (China) has already shown its opposite sides over time. Problems began that were not immediately calculated.
Excess elderly Chinese
When there was a period of a small number of elderly Chinese, no one thought about what would happen next, and the authorities were pleased with the policy of "One family - one child." Problems began already closer to the 2010s: the population was redistributed, people in their age became an order of magnitude more. They now had to be looked after, but there was no one to do it. The able-bodied population is actively working, and young people are few.
The country was also not ready for a pension policy, in which the state assumes responsibility for the maintenance of older people. Therefore, even at age 70, many Chinese were forced to work in order to earn a living.
There was a problem of lonely elderly people. There was an additional burden on social services to search these people. It turned out that in one household sometimes there was only one person who could no longer cope with physical activity.
The problem of childish selfishness in connection with such a policy of the authorities
The second pitfall of the policy of "One Family - One Child" was the problem of raising children. On the one hand, the opportunity to properly raise one child, give him everything he needs, is much more than provide all this for seven. But many noticed that the children had become too selfish. There was even such an example when a mother became pregnant with a second child, and the first teenage girl set a condition for her: either her mother makes an abortion, or the girl ends her life by suicide. This was due to the selfish desire to get all the attention from the parents and not to share it with anyone else.
Selective Abortion Problem
Given the attitude of the Chinese towards women, as well as the imposed restriction on the number of children in the family, it is not surprising that parents wanted to have a boy. But you can’t predict gender, so many began to look for an opportunity to determine who they would have as soon as possible in order to free themselves from an unwanted girl.
Illegal ultrasound services appeared to determine the sex of the fetus, although this is prohibited by law. "One family - one child" - politics in China - led to selective abortions, which have become commonplace among Chinese women.
The problem of finding a spouse for young Chinese
As a result, after the birth of boys, the number of girls in the country has decreased significantly. At first, this was not seen as a problem either. It is much better to have a boy in the family who will later become the breadwinner. Politics even in some circles changed its name: "One family - one child with higher education." Parents were proud of the opportunity to give their son a quality education, since they had the opportunity to educate him.
But years go by, fewer girls in the country, a lot of guys, and another problem arose - finding a wife or just a couple. In China, homosexuality began to flourish on this basis. Most of the reasons for this lay precisely in the excess of the male population. Some statistics show that young people practicing same-sex relationships are ready to enter into a traditional marriage, if possible. At the moment, the number of the male population prevails over the female by as much as 20 million people.
Childbirth in Hong Kong. Excess women in labor
A policy that allows you to have no more than one child in a family determines quotas for the birth of a baby. Therefore, most Chinese women who decided on a second child were forced to go to childbirth in another territory - in Hong Kong. The laws there are less strict, and no one introduced any quotas. But the problem arose in the smallest state. After all, the number of Chinese women is large, and the capacity of maternity hospitals is designed for the officially registered population of Hong Kong. As a result, not all local residents had the opportunity to give birth to children in comfortable conditions - in hospitals there were always not enough places. The authorities of both states began to struggle with “mother tourism”.
Future of the country with this policy
The policy of raising only one child in China has led to the emergence of a new unspoken holiday for the population - Twins Day. The birth of twins was considered a big event for the family, as this gave them the right to raise their two children. No matter how the authorities try to prevent this, you will not go against nature. When future parents learned that they would have twins, their happiness knew no bounds - this freed them from the penalty for their second child and increased their family by two small miracles. The country began to organize twins festivals on this occasion.
But this law does not apply to small national minorities, which do not exceed 100 thousand people per population of all of China. These people are also lucky - they have the right to give birth to as many children as they want.
Analyzing all the problems and pitfalls of the law on one child per family adopted in the late 70s of the twentieth century, the Chinese authorities came to the conclusion that it was necessary to somehow soften its wording and enable the population to give birth not only to one child. As a result, "One Family - One Child" - politics in China - is canceled. This happened in October 2015.
The country's leadership approved a new law on allowing families to have two children. According to their forecasts, this will solve the problem of selective abortion, there will not be such a pursuit of boys in families, and many will allow themselves to raise girls as well. In addition, there will not be such a sharp decline in the young population, but two young children will come to replace the two old parents. In addition, not all Chinese women can have children, and some will remain with one child. Therefore, the demographic situation will not change significantly with the adoption of the new law.
"One family - one child": abolition of policy
Of course, there are rumors about the brutality of the Chinese authorities in relation to childbearing. The population of this country sighed a little easier, when from January 1, 2016, the policy on the birth of one child in the family was finally canceled. But what is the reason for this? Strengthened concern for the moral component of the population. The thing is that this law, which has been in force for about 35 years, has become strongly contrary to the economic interests of the country. That is why the policy "One family - one child" is canceled. What does this give the country and young parents?
Some are wary of this cancellation, as they allow the thought of a baby boom. But you should not be afraid of a sharp change in the demographic situation. The fact is that in recent years (since 2013) a policy relaxation has already taken place - it was allowed to have two children in those families where at least one of the spouses grew up in the family. Thus, the Chinese were gradually prepared for the abolition of politics.
For young families, cancellation is a breath of fresh air. Indeed, at the legislative level they were allowed to raise not “little emperors” - selfish children, but two full-fledged members of society who knew how to be in a team.