Population Policies
Many countries around the world have introduced population policies to encourage people to have either more or fewer children.
China's One Child Policy
The Government brought in the One Child Policy on 1st January 1979.
The description of the system as a "one-child policy" is misleading. Most married women in China have the chance to bear two offspring, but the entitlement to breed beyond a solitary child is determined by a complex set of rules that vary from province to province and are often applied differently from village to village.
Broadly speaking, urban couples are allowed one child, rural families can try for a second if the first is a girl and women from ethnic minorities are permitted to give birth two or three times in their lifetime. But there are close to a dozen exceptions, including if a baby has disabilities or if the mother and father are both single children.
The policy had a series of ‘carrot’ and ‘stick’ sections:
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Age limits and certificates reducing marriages
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Free birth control / family planning advice
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Cash bonuses, improved housing and free education / medical care if couples limited themselves to 1 child
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Anyone having more than 1 child would lose all these benefits and also face financial penalties
In the early years, the policy was severely applied.
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Financial penalties were applied
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Women pregnant for 2nd or subsequent time were often forced into having abortions
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‘Granny police’ were recruited in settlements to spy on people in their communities who might be trying to keep a pregnancy secret
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Contraception and family planning devices were pushed on people
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The policy had to be modified in rural areas.
At first the policy looked to be succeeding, but opposition grew, especially in rural areas. It was important to ensure that families had sons: these are more respected in the countryside and continue the family name. Daughters go to live with their husband’s family, so only sons can look after their parents. Sons can also work better in the fields, and are stronger. The birth of a son is an occasion for celebration, with cakes and fireworks. Baby girls are called ‘maggots in the rice”!!!!!
A history of the One Child Policy, it's implementation and effects. Very good video!
Singapore's 3 or more Policy
By the 1980s, the government had become concerned with the low rate of population growth and with the relative failure of the most highly educated citizens to have children. In 1984 the government acted to give preferential school admission to children whose mothers were university graduates, while offering grants of S$10,000 to less educated women who agreed to be sterilized after the birth of their second child. In 1985 they were abandoned or modified on the grounds that they had not been effective at increasing the fecundity of educated women.
The government decided to revamp its family planning program to reflect its identification of the low birth rate as one of the country's most serious problems. The family planning slogan became "Have Three or More, if You Can Afford It." A new package of incentives for large families included tax refunds for third children, subsidies for day-care, priority in school enrolment for children from large families, priority housing apartments for large families, extended sick leave for civil servants to look after sick children and up to four years' unpaid maternity leave for civil servants. Pregnant women were to be offered increased counselling to discourage abortions or sterilization after the birth of one or two children.
Despite these measures, the total fertility rate at the end of the 1980s reached a historic low of 1.44 children per woman, far short of the replacement level of 2.1. The government reacted by urging Singaporeans not to "passively watch ourselves going extinct." The low birth rates reflected late marriages, and the government set up a matchmaking service to those holding A-level educational qualifications as well as to university graduates. The government announced a public relations campaign to promote the joys of marriage and parenthood, and they announced a S$20,000 tax rebate for fourth children.
Decent video about Singapore's 3 or more policy.