The One Child Policy Was Bad For China

The One Child Policy Was  Bad For China

Overpopulation is an undesired situation where the existing number of humans surpasses a territory’s actual carrying capacity. China, with twenty percent of the world’s population, is the leading casualty of this phenomenon. The one-child policy was the solution set by China, which involved restricting all families to one child.This policy would go on to eventually have negative effects beyond the goal of reducing population growth.

Social health and criminality have greatly been impacted by the one-child policy.First,Living in a patriarchal society, males are expected to take on the family’s name and perform work. This bias has skewed the gender balance in favor of males. As a matter of fact, during the one-child policy, millions of girls went missing,and more were abandoned or even killed,now there aren’t enough girls to marry and to have kids.Almost one-quarter of chinese men between the age of 30 and 39  are projected to not have a spouse by 2050.That’s over 60 million men (Pinchas). Whatsmore ,this staggering rate of unmarried men will have many consequences like higher levels of criminality and depression.This problem doesn’t only affect men ,whole families will start experiencing emotional isolation due to the shrinkage of kinship .

The Chinese economy, despite growing fast, will undoubtedly slow in the coming years.The one-child policy was successful in stopping what seemed like an unsustainable birth rate but in recent years it has affected what made china so strong.China’s strength has always been its cheap labor cost and production rate.Due to the coming shrinkage of its population.China’s economic growth will have to slow down .Furthermore,due to the drop in children born,the rate of elderly people exceeds the number of working citizen.This causes a lot of problems,because after senior citizen retire they now find no support.China has a long cultural tradition called filial piety.Basically this means serving one’s parents and ancestors.Because of the one child policy all the burden of taking care of the elderly is on one child.440 million sibling-less individuals in china and that number is only growing(Eberstadt).This goes to show that the one child policy not only made it harder for working class citizen to get rich but also made family a burden in some cases.

In synopsis,the one-child policy caused China a lot of issues.First,affecting the population’s mental health, causing the crime rate to go up and millions of missing girls . Secondly,causing a break in China's economic growth and leaving the country in a bad situation.Some people might not see the one child policy as a bad reform,However the damage caused by this one is irreversible and will have a major effect on the next generation.

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Sources:

Consequences of China’s one-child policy,Pletcher Kenneth

one-child policy - Consequences of China’s one-child policy | Britannica

The Consequences of China’s One Child Policy,October 27, 2021,Pinchas Ruben

The Consequences of China’s One Child Policy — McGill Policy Association  

 Why China's One-Child Policy is a tragedy like no other | DOCUMENTARY |

Why China's One-Child Policy is a tragedy like no other | DOCUMENTARY DEEP DIVE - YouTube

China’s Changing Family Structure: Dimensions and Implications,Eberstadt Nicholas

China’s Changing Family Structure: Dimensions and Implications | American Enterprise Institute - AEI

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