M. A. GULEVA Candidate of Economic Sciences MGIMO (U) of the Russian Foreign Ministry Keywords: China, demographic policy, abolition of birth control, education In October 2015, a historic event took place in China - at the 5th plenum of the CPC Central Committee of the 18th convocation, the main topic of which was the discussion of China's economic and social development plan for 2016-2020, it was decided to cancel the "one-child policy". The government decided to "allow all families to have two children" 1. How did the Chinese authorities come to this decision, and what was the reason for the cancellation of such strict measures? REASONS FOR CHANGING THE DEMOGRAPHIC COURSE In the late 1970s, the Chinese leadership announced the introduction of the "One Family, one child" policy in order to control population growth. Families in cities were allowed to have only one child, and in villages-two, if the first child is a girl. Representatives of national minorities - about 8% of the Chinese population-could have two children per family in the city and three or four if they live in rural areas. However, over time, these policies have led to demographic distortions, such as gender imbalances and an aging population. As of the end of 2014, the population of China was 1 billion 367 million 820 thousand people. Of the total population, 51.2% are men, 48.8% are women, and about 15.5 % are people over 60 years of age (see figure).2 Since 2003, the proportion of children under the age of 14 has been steadily declining, while the elderly population has been growing steadily over the past three decades. If in 2010 the share of the population of China over 60 years was 12%, then, according to UN estimates, by 2050 it will increase to one-third of the total population of the country. Gender imbalance is another result of the implementation of birth control policies. Until now, Chinese women prefer to terminate a pregnancy if they find out that the unborn child is a girl. In 2014, t ... Читать далее