Friday, October 30, 2015

China changes one-child policy into two-child policy

Yesterday, the Communist Party of China announced they will now allow all couples to have two children. It should be made clear that China is not changing from a one-child policy to a two-child policy because they realized what a great violation of human rights their one-child policy was, as a two-child policy is still an obvious violation of human rights.  Rather, China changed their policy because they finally realized the future demographic nightmare they are facing as the percentage of elderly members of their population will rise dramatically while the number of workers shrinks.     
   
Joel Kotkin explains at New Geography:
Perhaps the most troubling impact will be on the workforce. In 2050, the number of children in China under 15 is expected to be 60 million lower than today, approximately the size of Italy’s population. It will gain nearly 190 million people 65 and over, approximately the population of Pakistan, which is the world’s sixth most populous country.
For decades, China brutally enforced (often with forced abortions and sterilizations) a policy which limited couples to only having one child. This policy has led to millions of sex-selection abortions in a country where many families favor boys over girls.  Unfortunately, women in China who want to have more than two children will still face the same punishments women who wanted two children faced for decades.