China's One-Child-Per-Family Policy Lowers Country's Brithrate, Increases Male-to-Female Ratio, Study Says

China's one-child-per-family policy has lowered the country's birthrate but has increased the male-to-female ratio, according to a study published in the Aug. 19 edition of the journal BMJ, Reuters reports (Reuters, 8/17). The policy seeks to keep the country's population -- now 1.3 billion -- at around 1.7 billion by 2050. Ethnic minorities and farmers are the only groups legally exempt from the rule (Kaiser Daily Women's Health Policy Report, 8/10). Qu Jian Ding of Zhejiang University's Institute of Population Studies and Therese Hesketh of the Institute of Child Health in London examined data from 39,585 women in China with a total of 73,202 pregnancies and 56,830 live births to determine the effects of the country's one-child policy. The study finds that the male-to-female ratio is 1.15 to 1.00 and increased from 1.11 to 1.00 in 1980 through 1989 to 1.23 to 1.00 in 1996 through 2001 (Qu Jian/Hesketh, BMJ, 8/19). According to experts, the male-to-female ratio has increased because parents in China have resorted to sex-selective abortion to guarantee a male infant, Reuters reports. The study also finds that 35% of the women said they wanted one child, compared with 57% of the women who said they wanted two children and less than 6% of the women who said they wanted more than two children (Reuters, 8/17). "Since the one-child family policy began, the total birthrate and preferred family size have decreased, and a gross imbalance in the sex ratio has emerged," the authors wrote (BMJ, 8/19). They added, "These findings have clear implications for decisions about future population policy. ... A relaxation of the policy could be considered in the near future." The researchers also said that if the policy were relaxed, "[i]t is unlikely that a baby boom would result, and such a change in policy might help to correct the abnormal sex ratio" (Reuters, 8/17).

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