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Forecast on the Size and Structure Trends of the Only-children under the New Birth Policy
Yao Yinmei Li Fen Yin Wenyao

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Abstract  

Family planning policy implemented over 30 years has generated a lot of only-children in China, and it has become a hot issue. The government loosened its single-child policy to allow a parent who has an only-child in their family to have another baby in 2014. Definitely this change will have an impact on the size and structure of the only-children. Thus, it is worth studying and forecasting under the new policy, especially in the context of ″less younger children and more aging population,″ so as to provide the basic information for the policy-maker to develop one-child parents pension policies in China. Based on 1% national population sample survey in 2005 and census data in 2010, we estimate the multi-age marriage probability among couples of double only-children, single only-children and non-only children, by following the idea and method of parity progression to measure out different number of couples who will be allowed to give only-children, or second children under the new fertility policy, and based on the number of second children and the parity-specific births to adjust dynamically the attributes of only children or non-only children, and to estimate the number of age-sex-specific only-children. The results show that by the end of 2013, the number of only-children had reached about 218 million, of which 69.0% lived in cities or towns, and 31.0 % in rural areas. With the implementation of the new fertility policy in 2014, the number of only-children will continue to grow, and the long term trend of lower birth rate is immutable. The number of only-children will reach 303 million by 2050, but 45 million less than under the one-child policy, which means less of only-child risky families and a more harmonious family structure conducive to future pension protection.  The spatial distribution of only-children is heavier in our urban areas and eastern regions than other areas. There will be 303 million only-children in 2050, of which those in urban areas will account for 89.1% and the rural only-children for 10.9%. The only-children are mainly concentrated in the eastern China, followed by the Middle and West regions, and fewest in northeast China. However, the proportion of only-children in the eastern region will increase before decreasing, rise slowly in the Middle and West regions, and show a steady decline in the Northeast region. The disparity in provincial distribution of only-children is quite large, with over 10 million each existing in 12 provinces such as Jiangsu, Shandong but less than one million each in Tibet, Qinghai, and Hainan.  The age structure of the only-children is dominated by those under 40 years of age at present, among whom the proportion of children aged 0-14 will show a rapid decline before a stable situation, the young and prime adults aged 15-39 will show a slow increase before a quick decrease, while the old adults aged 40 and above will rise continuously. The only-children aged 40 years and above will gradually replace the young in 2040 as the main body of only-children. As they grow old, the risk of death will increase, and the proportion of one-child parents who lose their only-child will increase too. Since the pension of the parents of only-children and dead only-children will become serious challenges, we should be prepared to deal with their social security in advance. The fertility policy simulation technology is used here, together with marriage probability of multi-age difference between couples, parity progression ratio and dynamic adjustment of the characteristics of only-children. The provincial-level forecast of the number of only-children under new fertility policy is conducted for the first time to provide the size and age structure of the only-children on the national, regional and provincial levels, in urban and rural areas. It should be noted that the statistical standard of only-children as well as the data are forecast under the condition that the current fertility patterns are unchanged, and the death probability of only-children is the same as non-only children.

Key wordsnew birth policy       only-child       spatial distribution      age structure      trend     
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Yao Yinmei Li Fen Yin Wenyao
Cite this article:   
Yao Yinmei Li Fen Yin Wenyao. Forecast on the Size and Structure Trends of the Only-children under the New Birth Policy[J]. JOURNAL OF ZHEJIANG UNIVERSITY, 2015, 1(1): 94-104.
URL:  
https://www.zjujournals.com/soc/EN/10.3785/j.issn.1008-942X.2014.07.281     OR     https://www.zjujournals.com/soc/EN/Y2015/V1/I1/94
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