The one-child policy was adopted in 1979 to control the population in China. It is estimated that the policy eliminated 400,000,000 births by 2011. There were many claims of human rights violations because of forced abortions and unsafe IUD implants.
The policy restrictions have been relaxed over the years, allowing members of certain ethnic groups to have two children. In 2013, China relaxed the policy further to allow only child adults to have two children.
At times, couples that had a daughter failed to report the birth or offered the girl up for adoption. A son was valued over a daughter because a son is obligated to take care of his parents in old age and carry on the family name. This caused numerous females to be left in orphanages, many experiencing poor care.
The most shocking result of the one-child policy is the thousands of forced abortions in later months and even infanticide at birth. The reports of the 100 million missing girls suggests a high rate of infanticide.
Experts say that the one-child policy has created problems for China. Now, there is a reduced workforce that struggles to power the economy. With the shrinking workforce, China will have a hard time paying pensions to the growing aging population.
China’s workforce has declined steadily to 916 million workers, and they expect this decline to continue, while it is projected that the number of those aged 60 and over will reach 400 million or one-quarter of the population in the next 20 years.
It will be interesting to see how China deals with these issues. Perhaps outsourcing to Bangladesh?
One character in my book was a victim of the one-child policy. Jazz must devise a daring plan to help this woman return to the family that was forced to place her in hiding when she was a baby.