China – One-Child Policy – Preference for Boys – Female Infanticide – Gender Population Imbalance
Author: Womens UN Report Network
Date: October 30, 2006
400 million births
“Critics say the policy has led to forced abortions, sterilizations and a
dangerously imbalanced sex ratio due to a traditional preference for male heirs,
which has prompted countless families to abort female fetuses in hopes of
getting boys.
Government statistics show that 117 boys are born for every 100 girls in
China, well above the average for industrialized countries of between 104 and
107 boys for every 100 girls.”
http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2006/11/09/asia/AS_GEN_China_One_Child_Policy.php
has prevented 400 million births
China's population would be 400 million higher if it was not for the
government's policy of limiting most families to one child, state media reported
Thursday.
The "one-child" policy has slowed population growth and contributed
positively to the country's socio-economic development, the Xinhua News Agency
said, citing a family planning official.
But Zhang Weiqing, the minister in charge of the State Population and Family
Planning Commission, said China needed to address the problems of an imbalanced
sex ratio and an aging population, the agency reported.
The communist government has limited most urban couples to one child and
rural couples to two since the 1970s in an effort to restrain the growth of
China's population, now at more than 1.3 billion people, and conserve scarce
resources.
Critics say the policy has led to forced abortions, sterilizations and a
dangerously imbalanced sex ratio due to a traditional preference for male heirs,
which has prompted countless families to abort female fetuses in hopes of
getting boys.
Government statistics show that 117 boys are born for every 100 girls in
China, well above the average for industrialized countries of between 104 and
107 boys for every 100 girls.
Experts have said the gender imbalance resulting from sex-selective abortions
and other practices could have dangerous social consequences due to anticipated
shortages of marriageable young women.
There are also concerns about China's aging population, which now exceeds 143
million, Xinhua said. The growing number of elderly will tax China's limited
social safety net, especially in rural areas where the bulk of China's
population live.
Zhang, who was speaking at an international workshop on population
management, also said China would be willing to provide "population management
training and contraceptive supplies" to developing countries, the report
said.
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