With a rising birth rate, because of the suggestion of a former Chinese official and a shortage of food, China decided to enforce a law in 1980 to only allow one child per family. This act of desperation may have been what the country needed 35 years ago but is now the cause of many of their problems. It is a violation of basic human rights that were proclaimed in 1968 at the International Conference on Human Rights that stated: "Parents have a basic human right to determine freely and responsibly the number and the spacing of their children." (Proclamation, 2015) The one-child policy has been the cause of economic and social problems as well too many infringements of human rights upon women and should be abolished.
Firstly, China has to face many economic issues with the low percentage of people joining the workforce compared to the high percentage of those whom are leaving. Although the lack of employees to fill the gross number of those whom are retiring will increase the minimum wage, China's economy is based on these low wages. Without the competitive edge of the low-cost labour, they risk losing their economy to other countries who have not demographically caught up such as India. In addition, China's pension reserves are very low which is leading to some seniors only getting an equivalent to twelve dollars a month.(Population, 2013) In order to sustain or increase this amount, the younger generations will have to pay more taxes for the rising amount of aging population. This problem can further as it cannot simply be fixed with having more children. With the high taxes and having to provide financially for two parents and four grandparents, the Chinese will not be able to afford having another child as they already have a high burden of six dependant people. This can lead to a lower population growth which will lead the economy into a downward spiral. The one-child policy has lead, and is leading to, many economical problems.
