What can India learn from China’s Child Policy reforms?
China’s 5-year-old two-child policy is shrinking its young population. How is this affecting women in their country? Should a country like India be concerned about its population control strategies as well?
Considering China’s policy reforms around childbirth, there are many aspects that we can explore to understand what needs to be dealt with in near future?
- Why China came up with a two-child policy in 2016?
Since the 1980s China has been persistent regarding the adoption of the one-child policy and controlling the unprecedented increase in family size per household. There onwards, the government has been calling the shots on how people plan their family sizes to date. In the late 2000s, China’s concern over its ageing population led them to relax its one-child policy.
2. The Ageing Population and fertility rate threshold
As of the year 2019, China’s share of the population over 60 years of age is now projected to rise from 17.4% in 2020 to 30% in 2040, while the total fertility rate will continue to fall and at present, it stands at 1.3.
According to the UN Population Division, a total fertility rate (TFR) of about 2.1 children per woman is called replacement-level fertility. If the replacement level fertility is sustained over a sufficiently long period of time, each generation will exactly replace itself. In the coming years, China is expected to surpass Japan and can possibly become the country with the lowest fertility rate.
3. The Impact on women’s overall well-being
When I mean people, I want to specifically talk about women. How are women in China coping with these policy changes? There are some striking questions that come into the limelight:
a) How will women plan their career as they are now compelled to think about a second child?
b) Who will finance the upbringing of the second child? The cost of living is increasing sharply in China mainly due to the rising cost of housing and raising a child (such as education and healthcare for a child, loss of income for the mother, and childcare cost)
c) What kind of social policy government will introduce to facilitate the relaxation of the two-child policy (e.g. Tax reduction for families with a third child, family allowance for maternity subsidy for employers)
Isn’t it quite expected for a woman to be disappointed and feel meaningless as an individual when they are subjected to the pressure and changing dynamics of the government regarding Child Policy?
India’s family planning commission has a lot of rethinking to do when it comes to forcing people to have only two children or one. What should India focus on:
- Population stabilization?
- Women’s mental health and overall well-being?
- Fight the prejudices existing in the major section of society regarding childbirth?
- Economic impacts
- Increase in issues like unbalanced sex ratio and individual dissatisfaction
At present in India, states/UTs such as Sikkim, West Bengal, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka are amongst those states which have the lowest fertility rate ranging between 1.1 to 1.7. However, overall India stands at 2.2 where the highest fertility rate is from Bihar and Uttar Pradesh.
A lot to think about when it comes to child policy reforms and their impact on a women’s well being(career, health and more). How does this impact the economy?
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