Assessing the impact of the “one-child policy” in China: A synthetic control approach

Abstract

There is great debate surrounding the demographic impact of China’s population control policies, especially the one-birth restrictions, which ended only recently. We apply an objective, data-driven method to construct the total fertility rates and population size of a ‘synthetic China’, which is assumed to be not subjected to the two major population control policies implemented in the 1970s. We find that while the earlier, less restrictive ‘later-longer-fewer’ policy introduced in 1973 played a critical role in driving down the fertility rate, the role of the ‘one-child policy’ introduced in 1979 and its descendants was much less significant. According to our model, had China continued with the less restrictive policies that were implemented in 1973 and followed a standard development trajectory, the path of fertility transition and total population growth would have been statistically very similar to the pattern observed over the past three decades.

Trends in cesarean delivery rates in primipara and the associated factors

“…Since the implementation of the family planning one-child policy in the 1980s, families having an ‘only-child’ have increased in number in the mainland China [ 4 ]. The two-child policy was proposed since 2007 and officially implemented in 2013.…”

Only children or siblings: who has higher physical activity and healthier weight?

“…Evidence-based reasons explaining the sociological phenomenon of single-child families include higher age of parents when starting a family, increased financial demands of families [15,18], but also housing in rural areas, family caregiving, one or both parents having grown up in a single-child family [15], time pressure inherently related to giving birth [19] and political reasons [16,20,21]. Single-child families can be, in addition to parenting child-centeredness [20], and no sibling rivalry, an appreciation of the child being the only recipient of parents' emotional and financial resources [22]. They are regularly investigated in psychosocial research [15,16,21,22] but rarely in public health related research [23].…”

The Camouflage of “Tough Woman”: The Resistance of Female Character Against Patriarchal Ideology in Mulan

“…Despite the apparent improvement on education for females, women still face blatant discrimination in obtaining a place, let alone a desirable position, in the workplace (Dawson, 2019). Similar to other countries around the world, although females are being encouraged to try out male-dominant occupations on paper, males are not encouraged to do same on practice, thereby workplaces continue to show high preference for men on the basis that women cannot be depended on for their potential future as child-bearers (Gietel-Basten et al, 2019). Consequently, countries utilise the power of films to represent and empower females, and one of the most influential films that depicts the life of Chinese women is Mulan (1998).…”