The One Child Policy was introduced in China in 1979 to address overpopulation issues from previous encouragement of large families. It limited most urban families to only one child and imposed fines or forced abortions/sterilization for additional children. Exceptions were made for rural families and ethnic minorities. The policy succeeded in dramatically reducing population growth but had negative effects like sex-selective abortion of girls, a gender imbalance, and a future labor shortage. It has recently begun to be relaxed.