Only 36 per cent of Chinese families held to one-child policy

Jul 11, 2007, 5:35 GMT

Beijing - Only 36 per cent of Chinese families are still prevented from having more than one child after the government relaxed its controversial family planning policy to take account of demographic changes, state media said on Wednesday.

'While popularly referred to as the 'one-child policy,' the rule actually restricts just 35.9 percent of the population to having one child,' the official China Daily quoted Yu Xuejun, a spokesman for the National Population and Family Planning Commission, as saying.

Experts believe that China's population of 1.3 billion would have swelled to about 1.7 billion without the one-child policy, which was introduced in the late 1970s.

Governments in most areas of China now allow couples who are both single children to have two children, Yu said.

The only exception is the central province of Henan, which is one of China's poorest and most overpopulated areas, he was quoted a saying.

In many rural areas, couples are allowed to have a second child if their first child is a girl, reflecting the traditional dependence of parents on their sons for their old age.

About 11 per cent of the population, many of them from minority groups, are allowed to have two or more children, Yu said.

China does not want the current birth rate of 1.8 per couple to fall, as the population needs to stay 'in harmony with the economy, resources and environment,' he said.

'We don't encourage couples who are entitled to have two children to have only one,' he said. 'And it is not true we want the birth rate to be as low as possible.'

Yu also said suggested overpopulated areas of China could export more labourers to reduce the pressure.

'China has 20 percent of the world's population, but accounts for only 1 percent of global expatriate labourers,' he said.

'In countries like the Philippines and Mexico, about 10 percent of labourers work abroad every year, which is a good inspiration for our country,' Yu said

But Yu said there would be 'no major changes' in family planning policy before 2010.

Implementation of the family planning policy has been controversial, especially in rural areas.

Some local officials have imposed heavy fines on people who violated the policy and in some areas have used compulsory abortions, sterilisation and other draconian measures to enforce the policy.