China's one-child policy led to harsh measures like forced abortions and sterilizations. Experts now question its necessity. Official statistics show China's birth rate hit record lows last year with the population declining for four consecutive years. The policy was scrapped in 2015.
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Here's what to knowHere’s what dermatologists are saying about your skin care routine: Keep it simpleIMAX movie tells Ohio's environmental comeback story from burning river to top-ranked state parksNew diet guidelines say to double up on protein, but nutrition experts are waryUS ice cream makers say they'll stop using artificial dyes by 2028Letter writing enjoys a revival as fans seek connection and a break from screen timeTrump vincula su postura sobre Groenlandia a no haber ganado el Premio Nobel de la PazWorld NewsWomen push a toddler on a stroller as they tour the Qianmen shopping street with lantern decorations in Beijing, China on Jan. 12, 2026. A farmer rides past a billboard which promotes China’s one-child policy, on the outskirts of a village near Dongying, in Shandong province, Aug. 18, 1997. A Chinese woman plays with her grandchild at the Ritan Park, in Beijing, China on Oct. 31, 2012. A man holds a child as he walks past a propaganda billboard with the words “practice birth control to benefit the next generation,” in the Front Gate area in Peking, China, Feb. 22, 1983. A Chinese man lifts his child onto his shoulders as they pose for a picture in front of a portrait of late communist leader Mao Zedong in Beijing, China, Jan 6, 2005. Women push a toddler on a stroller as they tour the Qianmen shopping street with lantern decorations in Beijing, China on Jan. 12, 2026. Women push a toddler on a stroller as they tour the Qianmen shopping street with lantern decorations in Beijing, China on Jan. 12, 2026. A farmer rides past a billboard which promotes China’s one-child policy, on the outskirts of a village near Dongying, in Shandong province, Aug. 18, 1997. A farmer rides past a billboard which promotes China’s one-child policy, on the outskirts of a village near Dongying, in Shandong province, Aug. 18, 1997. A Chinese woman plays with her grandchild at the Ritan Park, in Beijing, China on Oct. 31, 2012. A Chinese woman plays with her grandchild at the Ritan Park, in Beijing, China on Oct. 31, 2012. A man holds a child as he walks past a propaganda billboard with the words “practice birth control to benefit the next generation,” in the Front Gate area in Peking, China, Feb. 22, 1983. A man holds a child as he walks past a propaganda billboard with the words “practice birth control to benefit the next generation,” in the Front Gate area in Peking, China, Feb. 22, 1983. A Chinese man lifts his child onto his shoulders as they pose for a picture in front of a portrait of late communist leader Mao Zedong in Beijing, China, Jan 6, 2005. A Chinese man lifts his child onto his shoulders as they pose for a picture in front of a portrait of late communist leader Mao Zedong in Beijing, China, Jan 6, 2005. at population control the world has seen, forced abortions on women, made sterilization widespread and led to baby daughters being sold or even killed, because parents wanted their only child to be a male.last year and its population has fallen for four years in a row, official statistics showed this week. Authorities, alarmed by the prospect of a shrinking workforce and an aging population, scrapped the policy in 2015. “It’s hard to escape the fact that China demographically shot itself in the foot,” said Mei Fong, the author of the 2016 book, “One Child: The Story of China’s Most Radical Experiment.”China’s leaders saw unbridled population growth as a potential threat in 1980 — to both economic development and its ability to feed what had grown into a nation of 1 billion people. The then impoverished country wasn’t the only one worried about having too many people at the time. Population control was a hot topic internationally and experts feared that rapid growth in China, India and elsewhere could overwhelm the earth’s resources. The birth rate had begun to fall in the 1970s after the government began encouraging people to have fewer children. It’s unclear how much its fall since then resulted from the one-child policy and to what degree it would have happened anyway because of the tremendous economic and societal changes over the last four decades.But the leadership at the time decided to curb population growth more directly, launching the one-child policy and enforcing it with stiff financial penalties for parents who had more than one child, as well as abortions and sterilization campaigns. It lasted for 35 years. Yi Fuxian, a senior scientist in obstetrics and gynecology at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, notes that the number of people getting sterilized plunged from 1.4 million women and 180,000 men in 2014, two years before the policy was eased, to 190,000 women and 2,600 men in 2020.China is far from the only country facing the challenges of an aging population. Around the world, as people get wealthier, they tend to want fewer, or no, children. But the one-child policy, leading to a preference for sons, has also created a gender imbalance in the one-child generation. Now, some from that generation, once dubbed “little emperors” because they were so fussed over, face the pressure of meeting the expectations, including financial, of being the only child. As they reach their 30s and 40s, there is only one child to support two parents, and in some cases, up to four grandparents. For some, this can lead to anxiety and depression, Fong said.China is an aging society that will likely face a major shortfall in the coming decades: not enough people of working age to support a growing population of retirees. That could burden government finances and pension systems.for condoms to giving cash subsidies to couples who have children. But the experience of other countries shows that it’s difficult to turn around a declining birth rate.Moritsugu covers political, economic and social issues from Beijing for The Associated Press. He has also reported from New Delhi, Bangkok and Tokyo and is the AP’s former news director for Greater China and for Japan and the Koreas.
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