CHINA


     For Chinese people what is the advantage of having many children? They provide many hands to work and ensure that the land will be worked when the parents are old.

     In the early seventies the population of China was a little under a billion. That is why in 1972 the Chinese government decided to implant the "wan xi shao" family planning program. This program allowed families to have no more than two children. By the late seventies apparently the Chinese population was still growing. Thus in 1979 the government formed a new policy that allowed families to have no more than one child. Because of this program it is known that women who give birth to daughters are abused by their husbands for not having a boy.

     One of the problems with such a program is that it is difficult to enforce. This is why the government provides positive economic incentives to families, such as, preferential medical care and education. They are also given allocation of housing and land, also larger pensions. For those families who disobey the result is a reduction of 10 percent in monthly earnings and restrictions of food supplies and education. 
 
     The question the Chinese people have to ask themselves now is what will happen in the years that follow? The statistics show us that in the middle of the 21st century there will be a disadvantageous distribution of the Chinese population according to age. There will be a small group of workers that will have to support a large group of retired people.

     The only way China can maintain a constant population of 1.2 billion is if married couples average less than two children for much of the 1990's.