Abstract
The world population is increasing at a rapid rate and aging fast in developed areas, soon the planet won't be able to satisfy needs of all humans living on it, however China did find a way to slow down the speed of population increase: The One Child Policy. It is a policy that some people protest against and that some people praise, as it was very successful in keeping the number of inhabitants low and stable. "The rationale behind One Child policy stems from the 18th century ideas of Thomas Malthus, whose theory suggests that with a population growth, food sources would be depleted due to the higher demand for food, hence hindering the economic growth and lowering living standards." (Bloom, Canning and Sevilla 2003) Nevertheless, China might have been successful in one aspect of this policy, but according to different studies, China will face its consequences in the future due to the aging population: social and economic.
The age structure has changed enormously since 1949; it was mainly a result of historical events and political decisions. Firstly, Great Famine already caused a decline in the total fertility rate per woman; it dropped from 6 to 3, followed by an increase in mortality rate, with a rate of 10 deaths in thousands to 25. (Cai and Wang 2009) This fact could have a huge impact on the age structure already; even though the population birth rate had eventually recovered in the later years. Secondly, political decisions played an important role in population changes and age structure too. Population structure was influenced mainly thanks to the improved health care; introduction of a simple programme, proposed by the government, which resulted in the decrease in the mortality rate, leading to a greater equality between young and elderly among the population and less deaths of new-borns.
