China implemented a one child policy in 1979 to control its rapidly growing population of over 1.3 billion people which comprised 20% of the world's population. The policy restricted couples to only one child and imposed fines for additional children. It succeeded in significantly reducing the birth rate from 31 to 19 births per 1000 people over 20 years, avoiding an estimated 230 million more people. However, later the replacement rate declined too much, so exceptions were made to the policy to increase births and ensure future population replacement.

1. ONE CHILD POLICY IN
CHINA

2. CHINESE DEMOGRAPHY
CHINA IS THE MOST POPULATED COUNTRY IN THE WORLD
IT HAS 1.3 BILLION OF PEOPLE, WHICH MEANS THAT THE
20% OF THE WORLD’S POPULATION IS CHINESE
ONE IN EVERY FIVE PEOPLE IN THE WORLD ARE CHINESE,
BUT CHINA IS ONLY THE THIRD BIGGEST COUNTRY IN
SURFACE
OTHER IMPORTANT DEMOGRAPHIC INFORMATION:
-Birth rate: 11.9 births per 1000 people (Spain: 9.1 per 1000)
-Death rate: 7.14 deaths per 1000 people (Spain: 9 per 1000)
-Life expectancy: 73 years old (Spain: 82 years old)
-Fertility rate: 1.18 children per woman (Spain:1.26)
-Infant mortality rate: 1.51 deaths per 100 live births (Spain 0,3 per 100)

3. WHY DOES CHINA HAVE THAT
BIG POPULATION?
THE PROBLEM
1950’: For patriotic reasons the Chinese government encouraged
people to have many children
As a result, the population grew 55 million people every three years.
1975: Population growth wasn’t as rapid as in the previous decades,
but still the goverment had a problem due to the big population of
the country and the lack of resources and services

4. SOLUTION
1979: The Government decided to control the population growth.
Thus, they introduced the “one child per family” policy.
That policy included:
-Couples had to be 22 (men) and 20 (woman) years old to get married
-Couples only could have children if they were married
-People who obeyed this policy had some benefits
-People who didn’t obey this policy had to pay high fines. What’s
more, woman who had a second child were forced to have an
abortion
However, there were some exceptions:
1. If the first child had a handicap
2. In the rural areas, if the first child was a girl, farmers could have a
second child
3. Having a second child was possible for the minorites (the non
‘Han’ ethnics).

5. RESULTS
1999: The one child policy was a success
-The birth rate had fallen from 31 to 19 in 20 years
- If they wouldn’t have taken that policy, the Chinese population
would have had 230 million more people
However, there was another problem by the end of the 20th century:
the replacement of the population was in danger because there were
few children to maintain the population in the future
For that reason, Chinese authorities lifted some restriction in the
policy.
Nowadays, Chinese population is recovering enough young people
to guarantee the population’s replacement in the future

6. RESULTS
1999: The one child policy was a success
-The birth rate had fallen from 31 to 19 in 20 years
- If they wouldn’t have taken that policy, the Chinese population
would have had 230 million more people
However, there was another problem by the end of the 20th century:
the replacement of the population was in danger because there were
few children to maintain the population in the future
For that reason, Chinese authorities lifted some restriction in the
policy.
Nowadays, Chinese population is recovering enough young people
to guarantee the population’s replacement in the future