Posted on 09/19/2009 8:31:02 PM PDT by Saije
WHEN the head of family planning in Shanghai said young couples should have more babies because the city was growing old, it sounded like a statement of the obvious.
Yet within days there was a storm of comment on the internet and in state media as people asked whether this meant the government was preparing to relax its one-child policy.
There are signs officials are rethinking the ban, which has prevented 400m births since 1979, because on present trends China’s population will begin to decline by the middle of the century. By then, India will have overtaken it as the most populous nation...
It is a harbinger of change that will come as a shock to some commentators who portray China as a youthful country that is destined to rule the world. In fact, the one-child policy means China is “greying” fast. On present trends it will grow old before it has a chance to get rich.
Although China’s population has passed 1.3 billion and is still growing, it is expected to peak within three decades. By 2040, India will have 1.5 billion people versus 1.42 billion Chinese, according to Barbara Pillsbury, an expert on population control.
The Chinese media reported her forecast and the Shanghai debate shows that officials have begun to grasp the consequences of the policy.
By the middle of the century China will have more than 330m people over 60, of whom 100m will be over 80...
Then there is the gender imbalance. Pillsbury said that while the average live birth ratio is 105 boys to 100 girls, in China it is 119 to 100 — the result of abortions by couples desperate for a son.
(Excerpt) Read more at timesonline.co.uk ...
Starting with communists, liberals, most trial lawyers, jack-booted thugs, and bureaucrats.
Cheers!
Septoids, I knew it!
China has made her literal “bed” and she will have to lie in it! Any nation with such blatant disregard for life (are you listening America?) deserves to face the consequences, intended or unintended.
This is impossible because they have a “One Child, Kill The Rest” policy.
Gee, ain't Government intervention grand?
< / 0bummerCare)
What?! You mean a liberal idea had negative consequences?
That’s the first time EVER. Wow.
Alert Czar Holdren that his plan might not work as well as he thought.
One of the more interesting reasons why China will not be the super-marketplace investors have hoped. The most important is still that it is a commie cesspool.
When China began enjoying the fruits of self-extermination a few articles were written about China’s collapse due to an inability to sustain its population.
Don’t kid yourself. “Commie’s” don’t advertise, and China makes New York City look shy and reserved.
Perhaps they are building a very, very large army.
Too late. China’s “one child” policy coupled with a cultural preference for males means there are way more men than women in the next generation(s). That’s not a sustainable situation.
Try visiting China sometime. It is far more capitalist than the US. The nameplate on the door says "Communist", and that's about as far as it goes. Taxes differ wildly, there are few social programs for redistribution of wealth, and decades of explosive economic growth demonstrates that the government knows when to step out of the way.
(To be fair, with a 5000 year head start, the lower levels of government are a bureaucracy of the highest caliber... but they are not impossible to navigate, even for a foreigner.)
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