- Article link: http://www.nytimes.com/2015/11/14/world/asia/china-one-child-policy-loneliest-generation.html?_r=0
When I just saw this news, the only thing I want to say is that what a sensible decision it is for both China and next generations.
For the whole country, it cannot be denied that one-child policy has suppressed the growth of population in China effectively, however, at the same time, aging population is inevitable. Based on my research, by 2005, citizens over 65 years of age rose to 6.96 percent of the whole population. If the one-child policy continues to be used, by 2020, over 23 percent of China’s citizenry is expected to be over age 65 (http://www.wikinvest.com/concept/China’s_Aging_Population). And because of the aging population’s high demand for services and expenditures related to health care, China’s medical and social insurance system will face a big trouble. Overall, all of these factors are not beneficial for the development of China.
Besides the whole country, stopping one-child policy is also good for the next generations. As the last generation who had experienced one-child policy, I am both lucky and unlucky. Fortunately, parent love is exclusive to me when I was growing up. I do not worry that someone is going to divide the love of my parents. However, the cost of this exclusive love is huge. Firstly, I was very lonely during my childhood since no brothers or sisters played with me all the time. Secondly, when I grow up, no brothers or sisters can look after me when my parents are busy. Thirdly, I have to raise up two sets of parents when I get married. However, things become totally different for the children who were born at the end of one-child policy. During their childhood, they can grow more happily and healthily and appreciate what they own. Furthermore, they will not feel alone anymore when they are accompanied by their brothers or sisters. What’s more, their pressure will be less since they do not need to raise their parents by themselves but with their brothers and sisters.
However, stopping one-child policy has some “negative” impact on the boyfriends or girlfriends of the next generations since they not only need to get along well with their mates’ parents, but also need to please their mates’ brothers or sisters.
2 Comments
I’m the only child in my family so I have the same feeling as yours:)
In my opinion, stopping the practice of One-child Policy is a wise decision. And I think the breakdown of One-child Policy will bring some positive impacts of China’s economy, for example, this will lead to increased domestic consumption on baby-related products. And I also saw an interesting news, baby-related stock surged after the announcement of stopping One-Child Policy.
Hi!I really like your blog, it is thought-provoking! But rather than the demographic perspective, I’d like to provide a little thoughts from the economy perspective. Firstly, financial burden on the generation of One Child Policy was high, therefore, after the relaxation of this policy, two children will be able to share the burden, thus reducing it. And it is beneficial to the economy of the whole society, since families with two children are willing to buy more. What’s more, the children’s product industries’ sales will be driven up, while on the contrary, the prophylactic sales will probably go down. So the collapse of One Child Policy could also be a double-edged sword.