China’s government, after enforcing a one-child policy since 1980 to combat a population that appeared to be growing out of control, announced on Oct. 29 that it will now allow families to have a total of two children. The policy has caused significant demographic issues—there are 116 to 118 men for every 100 women—and social problems and created a generation of only children with two aging parents to care for. The policy has been under quiet review for years. But headlines that state “China abandons one-child policy” are inaccurate. Families are still limited to two children and must still apply for permission to have them, as they did for their single child. There has been no indication yet whether family planning authorities in China will continue to use forced abortions and other coercive methods against couples who choose to have three or more children.
One-Child No More
Show Comments (
)
Comments are automatically closed two weeks after an article's initial publication. See our comments policy for more.
The latest from america
This week, a music festival returns to the Chiquitos missions in Bolivia, which the Jesuits established between 1691 and 1760. The story of the Jesuit "reductions" was made popular by the 1986 film ‘The Mission.’
The world can change for the better only when people are out in the world, “not lying on the couch,” Pope Francis told some 6,000 Italian schoolchildren.
Our theology of relics tells us something beautiful and profound not only about God but about what we believe about materiality itself.
"3 Body Problem" is an imaginative Netflix adaptation of Cixin Liu's trilogy of sci-fi novels—and yet is mostly true to the books.