The one-child policy, established in 1979, meant that each couple was allowed just one child. Benefits included increased access to education for all, plus childcare and healthcare offered to families that followed this rule.
That’s exactly what One Child Nation—a harrowing documentary now streaming on Amazon, free to all Prime subscribers—intends to correct.
What is China’s one-child policy today?
China has announced that it will allow couples to have up to three children, after census data showed a steep decline in birth rates. China scrapped its decades-old one-child policy in 2016, replacing it with a two-child limit which has failed to lead to a sustained upsurge in births.
The end of China’s one-child policy was announced in late 2015, and it formally ended in 2016. Beginning in 2016, the Chinese government allowed all families to have two children, and in 2021 all married couples were permitted to have as many as three children.
In 1979, the One Child Rule was introduced in China. It is an anti-natal policy. It was brought in because of concerns about the size of China’s population. In the 1960s the fertility rate was as high as 5.7 and the country could not support this rate of population growth.
What is the documentary One Child Nation about?
After becoming a mother, a filmmaker uncovers the untold history of China’s one-child policy and the generations of parents and children forever shaped by this social experiment.One Child Nation / Film synopsis
1h 25mOne Child Nation / Running time
There was no official policy, but government propaganda condemned contraceptives and even banned the import of some. As a result, the population of China doubled over the next few years. The success was short lived. China’s food supply was strained and the government reversed the campaign against contraceptives.