China to continue One Child Policy

Despite the fact China is facing population challenges such as fast aging and sex ratio imbalance, the country will continue its low-birth policy, said Li Keqiang, Vice Premier of China.

China is facing the pressure of population growth and the country's aggressive development over the past three decades has raised new challenges, Li told authorities at the National Population and Family Planning Commission today, reports Xinhua. Only 200 million people were born from 1989 to 2005, the year the nation's population reached 1.3 billion. The Chinese government said the achievement should be attributed to the One Child policy, without which the population would be more than 1.7 billion, estimated the government. Under the policy, which was introduced in 1978, urban couples can only have one child while rural couples are allowed to have two. The policy, along with rapid industrialization and urbanization have also contributed to the growth of China's aging society. According to government statistics, the country's birth rate dropped from more than 1.8 percent in 1978 to around 1.2 percent in 2007. The population over 60 years of age, however, increased by 50 million in the last 10 years. By the end of 2008 there were 169 million people over 60 years old. Meanwhile, rural couple are still obsessed with having a male heir, mainly because of China's weak social welfare system. Ultrasonic inspection is widely being used in hospitals in remote area for sex ratio selection. A recent study released this month by the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences found more than 24 million Chinese men of marrying age will find no woman to marry by 2020. In early January, the central government said it would accelerate the legislation to prevent gender selection.