Beijing to Keep One-Child Policy, Acknowledges Gender Imbalance
BEIJING -- China says it won't loosen its so-called one-child policy, despite a government official's acknowledgment yesterday that the policy was partly to blame for a worsening gender-imbalance problem.
A baby-boom generation born in the early 1980s has reached marriage and childbearing age, risking another massive population surge in China if restrictions are dropped, said Zhang Weiqing, minister of the National Population and Family Planning Commission.
Since the late 1970s, China has limited urban couples to one child and rural families to two children to control the population and conserve natural resources.
Mr. Zhang acknowledged that the policy has accelerated a gender imbalance among newborns, with some 118 boys born for every 100 girls in 2005. There are fears the imbalance could lead to many men being unable to find mates.
The policy and easy availability of sonogram technology to determine fetal gender have led many families to abort baby girls. Mr. Zhang declined to give statistics for the annual number of abortions performed in China. He called the gender imbalance "a very serious challenge for China."
Mr. Zhang said the government has committed to solving the imbalance within 10 to 15 years with education campaigns, punishments for sex-selective abortions, and rewards for parents who have girls.
From: Wall Street Journal, Associate Press
Date: January 24, 2007 Back