China May Be Rethinking One-Child Policy to Avoid Expected Population Decline
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http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,552601,00.html
When the head of family planning in Shanghai said young couples should have more babies because the city was growing old, it sounded like a statement of the obvious.Yet within days there was a storm of comment on the internet and in state media as people asked whether this meant the government was preparing to relax its one-child policy.
There are signs officials are rethinking the ban, which has prevented 400 million births since 1979, because on present trends China’s population will begin to decline by the middle of the century. By then, India will have overtaken it as the most populous nation.
Xie Lingli, the Shanghai family planning official, was forced to explain publicly that he had not deviated from the party line, which restricts most couples in Chinese cities to one child.
The rules allow couples who are both only-children to have two babies. Shanghai has introduced other exceptions, including more leeway for fishermen and farmers. It has also abolished a rule that couples who are allowed more than one child must wait four years between births.
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- groups:
- Community, Feminism, Birth Control
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- tags:
- China, Birth Control
