China's one-child policy

We had talked some in class about the demographics of China, specifically when it comes to men outnumbering women. I kinda wanted to find something about that.

I ended up finding this article from the Economist. It's a few years old, but it's probably still relevant. It talks about the one-child policy and the effects it's had, but it also brings up the possibility that the policy was not entirely necessary. Apparently the birth rate was already getting lower by the time the policy was enacted. In addition,  specific academic mentioned in the article argues that there are other ways to lower the birth rate. "Countries that simply improved access to contraceptives—Thailand and Indonesia, for instance—did as much to reduce fertility as China, with its draconian policies." It is also mentioned that "in practice, the one-child policy varies from place to place; it hardly applies to China's minorities and is more lightly applied in rural areas—and there is no population boom in those parts."

Obviously this isn't everyone's opinion, but it does seem to make sense.  I'm taking a geography class right now, and we've talked about how people in developed countries tend to have fewer children than those in less developed countries. There are many reasons for this, but since China has developed so rapidly, it makes sense that they would follow the same pattern. I don't think I know enough about the issue to form an opinion, but it's interesting to see the arguments being made.