Chinese Official Lists Birth Control Benefits
China’s family planning chief says strict regulations have prevented 200 million births since 1970.
The People’s Daily on Wednesday quoted Peng Peiyun as saying this has saved China $810 billion in the cost of educating and feeding 200 million people up to the age of 16. She said the success of China’s family program has profound significance for world population stability and is better appreciated outside China than within.
China, with a population of about 1.1 billion, introduced strict family planning rules in the early 1970s limiting couples to one child. In some rural areas, couples are allowed a second one if the first is a girl. Minority ethnic groups such as Tibetans and Mongolians are exempt from the one-child rule.
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