What are the effects of a one child policy? (6 Marks)

China's one child policy was implemented in 1979 to combat the increasing strain of a growing population. As of 2015 it has slowly been phased out in order to rectify the many social and economic issues that China is now facing because of it. For instance, the one child population resulted in selective abortions as Chinese families wanted to carry on their family names and were thus encouraged to have sons that would do so. This has resulted in a significant difference between the number of men and women within the country. Whilst, this was recognised early and gender checks banned, it encouraged illegal checking and abortions which risked the lives of mothers. Furthermore, economically speaking the working population has decreased with a very large ageing population very much dependent upon them. This has resulted in a lack of doctors able to meet the growing demand for medical care, especially when considering that elderly populations are more vulnerable to respiratory illnesses that are common in China because of the poor environmental conditions.