China may ease one-child policy after 2010

Asian Economic News, Nov 13, 2000

BEIJING, Nov. 7 Kyodo

China may remove the ''one couple, one child'' policy after 2010 as its population growth has been well-controlled, with a birthrate of around 1%, a spokesman for the State Family Planning Commission said Tuesday.

The policy, introduced in 1980 to curb the strong rises in population in one of the world's most populous countries, was a tentative measure, Chen Shengli told reporters.

Chen said the one-child policy was introduced on the premises of being effective for one generation -- about 30 years.

Given the recent low population growth, however, the policy can be reviewed in 10 years from now, he said.

According to Chen, there is still strong preference for boys in rural areas as they can be work in farming, and in those areas couples are allowed even now to have another child if the first one is a girl.

Couples in ethnic minority communities are also allowed to have more than one child.

But in urban areas, the Chinese traditional respect of a large family has been tarnished.

As a result, on national average, Chinese families have 1.97 children each at present.

With that figure, the commission estimates China's population will reach 1.27 billion at the end of this year and increase to around 1.38 billion in 2010, Chen said. The figures compare with a peak of 1.6 billion in the 1940s.

But the population is expected to decline after 2010 to 1.45 billion in the late 21st century, he said.