One-child policy

China’s population-control policy, introduced nationally in 1979, generally limited many families to one child. It was phased out beginning in 2015.

Birth planning: Government efforts to influence when and how many children people have. China framed the policy as part of a broader program for regulating births.
Ageing of China: The rise in China's median age and the growing share of older people in its population. Fewer births contributed to a population structure with relatively fewer young people.
Later, Longer, Fewer: China's 1970s campaign urging later marriage, longer intervals between births, and fewer children. This campaign preceded the one-child policy and had already reduced fertility.
Three-child policy: China's policy allowing married couples to have up to three children, announced in 2021. It marked a later reversal of restrictions as authorities sought to encourage births.
Family planning in China: Chinese policies and services concerning contraception, childbirth, and family size. Local rules and exceptions determined how the one-child limit applied.
Sex ratio in China: The imbalance between male and female population counts in China, especially among younger age groups. Son preference and sex-selective practices intensified the policy's effects on birth ratios.
Song Jian: A Chinese missile scientist who applied systems analysis to population projections in the 1970s. His modeling helped persuade leaders that rapid population growth threatened development.
Two-child policy in China: China's nationwide policy allowing all married couples to have two children, effective in 2016. It replaced the one-child rule for all couples before the three-child limit.
Birth permit: An official authorization required for a birth under some population-control systems. Permits linked family planning rules to access to a legally recognized birth.
4-2-1 problem: A family structure in which one adult child may support two parents and four grandparents. Small families could leave a single adult responsible for several older relatives.

Linked from 7 pages