Published Jan 22, 2008
China enacted a "one-child" policy in 1979 as a short-term solution to China's overpopulation problem. Chinese officials claim that it, along with other family planning laws, has prevented 400 million births.
But at what cost?
Perhaps the most problematic issue is the growing inequity of males to females. It was reported in a Reuter's article that there are about 118 boys born for every 100 girls in China, while in most Western countries there are about 105 or 106 males for every 100 females.