On October 29, 2015, China officially lifted its one child per family policy. The rule was enacted in 1980 after the government noticed that the population was growing too quickly, and that they didn’t have the means to support so many people. With the introduction of this new policy came forced abortions and intrusive forms of contraception. These methods of controlling the population were medieval at best, but were successful in lowering the population drastically, as well as helping many people out of poverty due to the decreased pressure to produce enough food for everyone.

Although, the policy did have many exceptions. In 2013, China announced that if one of the prospective parents was an only child, the couple could have two children instead of one. Many parents began fertility treatments to encourage the conception of twins, because according to the policy, the government could not penalize couples due to multiple births. Parents could have another child and not register them in the Chinese national household registration system, but the child would essentially not exist in the eyes of the government, and would not be permitted to attend public events. Wealthy couples could afford to pay the fine for having an extra child, so they could have as many children as they wanted.

The lifting of the one-child policy has received mixed views from the people of China. Many parents who already have one child say that the financial burden of another child is simply not worth it, or some who have already had children say it is too late in their lifetimes to have another. This shows that the new two-child policy will not do much to solve China’s new problem: an overwhelming number of their people are elderly. There are not enough young people in the country, meaning China’s population will soon consist of mostly elders who cannot work.

China’s new two-child policy has come a little too late for most. Government officials can only hope that it will help grow the population to where it once was.