Chinese considering getting rid of "one child" policy

October 31, 2012

The unpopular "one-child" policy in China, which only allows families of some provinces to have one child, may be phasing out. According to NBC News, a Chinese government think tank is encouraging the country's leaders to get rid of the policy and allow for two children per family starting in 2015 - eliminating the policy altogether by 2020.

Some believe this timeline was too bold, but others think it should take place overtime. This way, it would correct the problems that China has developed from the policy. The data was all illustrated in a report, which has been put together for the past two years, the media outlet reports.

According to AFP, there has been a gender difference with the one-child policy, which has some government officials moving toward the new two-child policy.

"Problems in population structure, quality and distribution have become increasingly visible and will have a profound impact on China's future social and economic development," the CDRF said in a report, according to a Xinhua news agency dispatch late Tuesday. "China has paid a huge political and social cost for the policy, as it has resulted in social conflict, high administrative costs and led indirectly to a long-term gender imbalance at birth."

However, this does not mean that plan will go through. In fact, Zhang Feng, director of the province's population and family planning commission, dismissed the idea for the southern province of Guangdong. He explained there would be no major adjustment in the policy for the next five years, according to the news outlet.

The planning officials have backed this idea for quite some time, saying that if they did not have the policy in place, their population would come from 1.3 billion to 1.7 billion.

Even so, some still believe the one-child policy will be done sooner rather than later. According to NBC News, although they are not sure exactly when it will phase out, they are certain that it will.

"That tells us at least that policy change is inevitable, it's coming," Cai Yong, an assistant professor of sociology at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, told the publication. "It's coming, but we cannot predict when exactly it will come.

Those who want to talk about the recent push to end the policy can make calls to China using international calling cards. 

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