China's One Child Policy
What is China’s One Child Policy?
China’s One Child Policy was an attempt by the central government to stem the effects of its rapidly aging population and inject young workers into the workforce. When China made this policy law in 1979, its intent was to curb the growth of its population, which was getting too large for the government to feed and control. But the biggest consequence of such a sweeping law, a dwindling workforce, is now working against their booming economy, which is showing signs of weakness.
But the aftermath of the One Child Policy is far more than a dwindling workforce. It is one of suffering. Its legacy has reached into the wombs of expectant mothers who have been forced to have abortions. The One Child Policy has sparked one of the worst trafficking crises in the modern world as refugees, many from North Korea, are taken by force to be married to Chinese men who cannot find wives. China does not publicly recognize the bride trafficking problem they created.
Does China Still Have a One Child Policy?
China updated its One Child Policy to allow families to have two children in 2015.
In 2021, seeing that the Two-Child policy did not have a lasting impact to increase birth rates in China, the policy was changed yet again, this time to a Three-Child policy.
These policies have created a massive gender disparity where there is an estimated 30-40 million more Chinese men than women. The only way for some Chinese men to find wives is through human trafficking. Unfortunately, it is the men with the least stability and financial prospects who have to turn to the open market for a wife. Many of the women in our network are married to men with a physical or mental impairment.
China’s one child policy facts
Made into law in 1979 to ward off over-population
In 2015, China relaxed this law, allowing married couples to have up to two children
China has an estimated 34 million more males than females
In 2019, Human Rights Watch stated that China “has a bride trafficking problem.”
Millions of Chinese women were subjected to forced contraception, forced sterilization, and forced abortion
China has performed 336 million abortions during this time (reported in 2013 by the health ministry)
how many chinese babies died
Approximately 400 babies were killed (also referred to as female infanticide or sex-selective abortion) as a result of the infamous one child policy. China’s 2010 census showed that the nation’s population could have been 400 million larger if the one-child policy had not been enacted in 1979.
