China is putting an end to birth limits, insiders say

CHINA may soon axe one of the world’s most controversial experiments, in a desperate attempt to slow the consequences that arose from it.

CHINA is reportedly putting an end to one of its most controversial social experiments: the limit on how many children each couple can have.

The country’s State Council has commissioned research on the potential consequences of ending the 39-year policy nationwide, according to insiders.

The overturning would see the end of a policy responsible for countless human rights abuses, including the 30 to 60 million girls said to be missing from government census records and the surge in female infanticides.

Insiders told Bloomberg the decision could be made as soon as the fourth quarter, although the announcement may be pushed to 2019.

Demographic expert Huang Wenzheng said it’s “only a matter of time” before the policy is overturned.

“Population will no longer be regarded as a burden but as precious human resources,” he told China’s flagship newspaper The Global Times, adding that it represented “a fundamental change in the demographic concept of the country”.

China’s one-child policy was brought in under leader Deng Xiaoping in 1979 to curb the country’s rapidly growing population, but had some devastating consequences. Picture: iStock

It appears the Chinese government is seeking to reverse the impact of the controversial policy, which was established in 1979 as a means of population control, restricting couples in China to just one child.

However there were unexpected consequences. Due to a cultural preference for boys, there are currently an estimated 106 males for every 100 females in China’s 1.37 billion population today. In real terms, that means it’s estimated by 2020 there will be 30 million more young men than women in China.

At the same time, with an ageing population and a drastically shrinking workforce, it’s predicted one in three Chinese people will be aged over 60 by 2050.

According to state media, the Chinese government was hoping to add more than 30 million new workers to the labour force by then.

For these reasons, the government relaxed the rules and allowed couples to have two children instead of one at the end of 2015.

But despite moves to fully end the one-child policy, China’s birthrate actually dropped by 3.5 per cent last year, with just over 17 million new babies born.

Economic pressures, a greater emphasis on investing in children’s education, access to childcare and baby formula, and delaying marriage seem to be deterring urban couples from having multiple children.

A 2016 survey of 10,000 respondents across 10 provinces in China found that more than half of couples with one child did not want another. In wealthy areas, this ratio rose to over 60 per cent.

Employment discrimination may play a part here. According to the United Nations Human Rights Council, employers in China are guilty of choosing only to hire women who already have children, denying pregnant women statutory leave, or dismissing women during pregnancy.