In 1979, the one-child policy was enacted to control China’s overwhelming population.
As the name states, it restricted the amount of kids a couple can have, down to a single child.
Though it was a temporary policy, over the course of twenty years, the population significantly dropped from 1 billion to as low as 300 million (Geography.About.com). The controversy whether or not this enactment was reasonable is still debatable, however it cannot deny the fact that this had an adverse effect on China’s demographics and culture. In our PowerPoint lecture, culture is defined as a “symbolic vehicle of shared meaning”
(Ch 1 Global Aging). It encompasses all our values, beliefs, and behaviors that are shared within a group, race, or religion. …show more content…
The policy not only dictated the life of a family, but [indirectly] the government seemed to favor the production of males rather than females. This could be considered as a type of discrimination toward gender. Moreover, contraceptives such as IU, abortions, and even sterilization was also forced on women (Geography.About.com). Some were even fined or pressured towards abortion. As a result, fertility rates have significantly decreased as well. Of course, this has repercussions, such as health and mental problems.
On the other hand, the one-child policy has also significantly impacted China’s demographics, and specifically, the people at or over the age of 65. This meant that the “rapid decrease in birth rate…has led to an increasing proportion of elderly people” (NEJM.org). In China, it is expected that the young-old population would increase to 15 percent by 2025 in comparison to the 7.5 percent today (NEJM.org). This would result in a huge demographic shift for China. In contrast, persons over 65, globally, would increase from 601 million in 2015 to an estimated 714 million by 2020 (Ch 1 Global Aging). This shows that: one there are more people capable of reaching the age of 65, and two the amount of elderly people in developed countries are substantially increasing in numbers. Hence, there would be a need for programs to support that increasing demographic, of which China does not
As the name states, it restricted the amount of kids a couple can have, down to a single child.
Though it was a temporary policy, over the course of twenty years, the population significantly dropped from 1 billion to as low as 300 million (Geography.About.com). The controversy whether or not this enactment was reasonable is still debatable, however it cannot deny the fact that this had an adverse effect on China’s demographics and culture. In our PowerPoint lecture, culture is defined as a “symbolic vehicle of shared meaning”
(Ch 1 Global Aging). It encompasses all our values, beliefs, and behaviors that are shared within a group, race, or religion. …show more content…
The policy not only dictated the life of a family, but [indirectly] the government seemed to favor the production of males rather than females. This could be considered as a type of discrimination toward gender. Moreover, contraceptives such as IU, abortions, and even sterilization was also forced on women (Geography.About.com). Some were even fined or pressured towards abortion. As a result, fertility rates have significantly decreased as well. Of course, this has repercussions, such as health and mental problems.
On the other hand, the one-child policy has also significantly impacted China’s demographics, and specifically, the people at or over the age of 65. This meant that the “rapid decrease in birth rate…has led to an increasing proportion of elderly people” (NEJM.org). In China, it is expected that the young-old population would increase to 15 percent by 2025 in comparison to the 7.5 percent today (NEJM.org). This would result in a huge demographic shift for China. In contrast, persons over 65, globally, would increase from 601 million in 2015 to an estimated 714 million by 2020 (Ch 1 Global Aging). This shows that: one there are more people capable of reaching the age of 65, and two the amount of elderly people in developed countries are substantially increasing in numbers. Hence, there would be a need for programs to support that increasing demographic, of which China does not