The topic — that China should end its controversial one-child policy — seems to be gaining traction.
China should change its one-child policy to allow couples to have two children as one of the ways to resolve the problems of a rapidly ageing society, a population expert has suggested.
That would slow down the ageing of the population at the macro level, according to Professor Gui Shixun. More important, it also meant that families would be better able to look after their aged elders financially and care for them.
His proposal, made at a conference on healthy ageing and socio-economic development, comes at a time when Chinese policy-makers are increasingly worried about the country’s ageing population.
On Wednesday, officials warned that China’s becoming an ageing country well before it had become affluent was creating pressures for both policy-makers and society.
Gui’s argument is based on an increasing concern that a huge surge in China’s greying population might soon offset economic development and place “an unsustainable burden on public budgets and extended families.”
I find this a very interesting topic, based on my converations with Chinese people who see the one-child policy as a necessity. Are we on the verge of witnessing a major shift in this attitude?
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By David Mercer
My wife recently had some huge thing in one of her classes about population issues, both under and over. The graying of the chinese population over the next 20-50 years is indeed a very large looming problem.
They just have to finesse it so that it doesn’t rise too fast again, which one child did indeed slow down….just a bit too much now.
If they can get a lower preference for males under 2 child than one, better for that explosive future dynamic too. China and India both have a near-future excess of males (thanks, ultrasound! 🙂
Here’s hoping the banking sector manages to creak alone over there too!
May 15, 2004 @ 5:02 am | Comment
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By Ellen Sander
I’m confused. Have they learned to count or something?
May 15, 2004 @ 4:20 pm | Comment