China does away with its one-child policy of the 1970s

China, has done away with its one-child policy of the 1970s - with immediate effect, married couples will now be allowed to have two children. This change was prompted due to the changed social scenario because of the country's aging population and shrinking workforce. This had been announced in October by the ruling Communist Party and will be effective from the first day of 2016.
This has been reported in news.sky.com dated 1 January 2016.

The one-child policy had been instituted in the late 1970s, and in order to restrict couples to only a single offspring there was a system of fines and even forced abortions. This one-child policy was seen as a key contributor to China's economic boom by preventing 400 million births. And - its ill effects are being felt only now.
Families in rural areas were allowed to have children if the first was a girl and ethnic minorities were allowed an extra child, leading some to call it a "one-and-a-half child" policy. The result was heart-breaking losses for would-be parents, leading to sex-selective abortions or infanticide that targeted the girls because of a long-held social preference for boys.
China's population is now aging fast and there is also a severe gender imbalance and, all the time, the nation's workforce is depleting.
Consequent to the new policy, the National Health and Family Planning Commission had predicted in November that around three million extra babies will be born each year over the next five years. This would, in turn, translate into addition of around 30 million people to China's labor force by 2050.
(Image courtesy wikimediacommons.org)

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