China will soon be ending up its most controversial and most unpopular one-child policy, reports Xinhua news agency.
China has a population of 1.4 billion people and is the most populous country in the world. The single-child policy was enforced in 1979 to relieve the strain on demands for water and other resources.
If believed to the data of Chinese government, the one-child policy has prevented about 400 million births in the country. It also has huge impact on the economy, identity and society.
However, the policy may have been doing some good to the country, but now it is on the verge of destroying China, which could become the first country in the world to get old before getting rich. For the first time in about three decades the working age population fell in 2012.
Data reveals one in every three people in China would be over 60 years of age by middle of this century, 2050. There will be no safety net for the aging population. Each child with the years has grown up to shoulder responsibility of both the parents without sharing it with siblings.
A minor relaxing of the policy was initiated in 2013 when the government allowed couples to have second baby if the mother or father was the only child.
However, in reality the scenario is a bit different too. Many couples really don’t want another child as they can’t afford bringing them up. Couples say raising offspring in major cities like Shanghai and Beijing has become very expensive.