The one-child policy was an initiative China introduced in 1979 in an effort to control the exponential population growth. The program placed a one-child limit on the majority of the country. This radical approach led to many social, cultural and demographic impacts.
Throughout the 20th century, China has struggled with the threat of overpopulation. In 1953, the, then newly established, People's Republic of China conducted its first national census. In it, they discovered the nation's population was much greater than expected. Before the census, the League of Nation's estimage of China's population was around 450 million. The census revealed that number was more like 580 million.
The government felt population stresses and pressure from other countries to do something about the rapid growth. This is where conversations regarding government mandated family-planning measures began. While no official laws were passed until 1979, propaganda regarding child-planning was prevalant in the years before.
As of 2025,
the population
sits at
1.4 billion.
The one-child was active between the years of 1979 and 2015. It began with strict guidelines in which no couple could have more than one child. Citizens in urban metropolises, like Shanghai and Beijing, adjusted well to the policy. This was predominatly because couples had already planned on sticking to one child. Those in rural areas, however, were not so pleased with the program.
People living in big cities had urban conveniences like dishwashers and grocery stores. They also knew their children would have career opportunities in the big cities. Many living in rural towns didn't have those conveniences. They didn't have large savings or pensions to rely on so they felt that they needed children to care for them in old age. This also created a norm in which sons were favored. The sons carried the family name and daughters would move out when they married. This led to a disproportionate amount of baby girls finding themselves abandoned and in orphanages.
The one-child policy came to an official end in 2015 but it has, essentially, become a two-child policy. The program is a very controversial subject. The country's sex ratio is skewed in favor of males and by extension, there are many more men trying to marry than women. There is also a much larger elderly population than how many children are able to support them in their old age. Among discussions regarding the efficacy of the program and the ethical concerns, one of the biggest topics is the obvious sex discrimination.
This program reinforced preesxisting notions that women were less valuble than men. It has also increased the pressure on adult women to "produce" a son and still controls women's reproductive rights. Additionally, the pressure and punishments of having more children than permitted and having the "right" child ended in several ways. In extreme cases, couples may have resorted to infanticide of baby girls. Once ultrasounds were available, many female fetuses were aborted and many newborns were abandoned or sent to orphanages.
The US was the leading destination for Chinese orphans. China offically greenlit international adoption in 1992 and ever since, about 160,000 orphans have been adopted. About half of those orphans, were adopted to America. Other countries with sizeable Chinese adoptee populations include: Canada, United Kingdom, France, Spain and the Netherlands.