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China urged to switch from one-child policy

Other News Materials 28 November 2009 13:56 (UTC +04:00)
The Chinese government has been urged to ease a decades-old family planning policy which has become the root of many social problems.
China urged to switch from one-child policy

The Chinese government has been urged to ease a decades-old family planning policy which has become the root of many social problems, PressTV reported.

According to the China Daily, experts have intensified their call for adjustments in the Chinese family planning policy, which allows most couples to have only one child. Population problems now concern a worsening gender imbalance and an aging population.

The call comes after recent data showed that 33.31 million more boys than girls were born in China between 1980 and 2000.

According to Yuan Xin, a professor at the Tianjin-based Nankai University's Population and Development Institute, adjusting the family planning policy in the 12th Five-Year Plan (2011-15) will be beneficial to families as well as social development.

He also pointed out that China's male to female birth ratio has been changing, with more boys born since the 1980s. Worldwide, the average is 103 to 107 boys for every 100 girls. But last year, it reached 120.56 in China.

"The gender gap in China will continue to widen in the short term," the professor further explained.

The one-child family planning policy began in the 1970s after China encouraged couples to have only one child, and made it binding on all, except minority ethnic groups and rural residents, in 1982.

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