One Child Policy Was It A Good Idea

China’s One­Child Policy: Was it a good idea? Mao Zedong, the leader of China thought that the more people there are the more workers, which would make China stronger. He soon realized that he was wrong.
In 1979, the population of China was 1 billion, and it’s still growing. This is what led to a government enforced policy known as the one­child policy in 1979. It’s been 35 years since this policy was enforced. There are both positives and negatives about this policy, however, the negatives impact the people of China the most.
In China, boys were always more preferable than girls. It’s apart of China’s culture. After the one­child policy was enforced, gender imbalance was a big problem.
According to Laura FItzpatrick, author of A Brief HIstory of China’s One­child policy,
“...an April 2009 study published in the British Medical Journal found China still has 32 million more boys than girls under the age of 20.”.(Doc. E). This huge gap between males and females will result in sex discrimination. Since the one­child policy enforces couples to only have one child, they often prefer to have boy.This has caused abortions of baby girls, neglecting girl babies, abandoning them, and even killing them. Also, Men will have a hard time finding women to marry.
The number of young people in China is currently also a problem. In document E, it states, “In 2007 there were six adults of working age for every retiree, but by 2040 that ratio is expected to drop to 2 to 1.”.(Doc.E). Because of this policy, there are more and more older people than younger people. When there are fewer younger people in the workforce, China’s economy will go down. There will also be fewer young people to take care of the elderly, which analysts fear will suffer neglect.
China’s one child policy can be pretty stressful on an only­child. According to
NPR( National Public Radio), “An internet survey of 7000 chinese only children between the ages of 15 and 25 found that 58 percent admitted to being lonely. A majority also described themselves as being selfish….”.(Doc F). Xioa Xuan, a Beijing only­child daughter says that she mostly had a lonely childhood. She also stated that “I used to cut myself on my wrist after being yelled at by my mom and dad because i didn’t know who
I should talk to or turn to.”.(Doc F). This shows that the one­child policy does not benefit an only­child. Most of these only­children, like Xiao, wish they had another sibling to share their feelings and emotions with.
It has been 35 years since this policy was enforced back in 1979. The one­child policy may have kept the population stable, but overall has had a negative impact on
China’s economy and society. In the future, China will soon realize that this policy was a mistake.