Chinese Population Policies: Towards a Free Choice

The chapter analyses the demographic consequences of Beijing abandoning ts infamous ‘One-Child Policy’ in her Chapter “Chinese Population Policies: Towards a Free Choice”. Revising China’s ‘One-Child Policy’ was indeed very necessary against the background of a rapidly shrinking working population. The number of Chinese citizens over 60 years old today has reached 132 million and the number will climb to roughly 400 million in 2040. By the middle of this century, the author writes, China will have one of the oldest populations on the planet with a very high old-age-dependency ratio. As a consequence, the Chinese government has begun experimenting with the ‘Two-Child Policy’,although it remains yet to be seen whether this new policy can in the years ahead address China’s demographic problems quickly and efficiently enough.