The second great wall of China: Evolution of a successful policy of population control

Since the 1949 revolution, Chinese population policy has undergone many shifts that have alternated with general political trends. However, in the past two decades the policy has grown increasingly antinatalist as a response to slower-than-desired economic development and rapid population growth. The remarkable declines of fertility during this period have been made possible by effective contraceptive technology, efficient administration, tight political organization down to grass-roots levels, and by linking national goals of population control to patriotism. Recent minor reverses in policy and in fertility suggests that there are practical limits to such policies, but other countries have much to learn from the Chinese experience.This is an updated version of a paper published in theNPG Forum, Negative Population Growth, Inc. October, 1989.