China’s “one-child” policy was introduced in 1980, with calls to abandon the strongly enforced policy arising in the past decade, according to The Washington Post.
The country announced that it would be lifting the “one-child” policy, and allow couples to have two children, according to USA Today.
The decision was reportedly made after a meeting of the Communist Party leadership, where concerns regarding potential labor shortages and rising numbers of elderly people that would greatly affect the economy in the coming years was discussed.
"The population in China is going to continue to age," said Kristin Bietsch, a research associate at the Population Reference Bureau in Washington, D.C.
“Even though they're hoping to increase their fertility, they're still going to have a substantial population aging — and this is going to happen even with the increase in fertility."
“Not a lot is going to change. A lot of trends are pretty much set in stone.”
The “one-child” rule in China reportedly skewed China’s sex ratio due to the selective abortion of girls. The abandonment of the policy is being seen as “great news,” according to Wang Feng at the University of California at Irvine, who is an expert on Chinese affairs.
“This really marks a historic point to end one of the most controversial and costly policies in human history,” stated Wang.
“But China for decades to come will have to live with the aftermath of this costly policy.”
The Chinese government reportedly credits the one-child policy with preventing 400 million births and helping many families out of poverty by easing the country’s limited resources. However, many demographers reportedly argue that the policy has created a crisis, as it has reduced the young labor pool that needs to support the older generation as it retires.
"The good news is, it is here," Cai Yong, a sociology professor at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, told the Associated Press about the change in policy.
“The bad news is, it is too little, too late."