Couples are flouting the policy of having one child in China, causing the nation to face a population rebound. Zhang Weiqing, director of the National Population and Family Planning Commission, asserted that rural residents were still marrying below the legal marriageable ages of 22 for men and 20 for women, contributing to more births. China, which is home to 1.3 billion people, introduced strict family planning policies more than 25 years ago to try to curb population growth. But unfortunately, most of the couples are not adhering to the set rules and regulations. Most urban residents are restricted to one child, while those in rural areas are encouraged to have one but allowed more in some circumstances. Those who have babies in violation of the restrictions are punished with heavy fines. However, last month, a survey by the National Population and Family Planning Commission discovered that the number of rich people and celebrities having more than one child was on a rapid increase and nearly 10% of people in this category had three children. Gender imbalance Part of the reason why rural families refuse to comply with the one child policy is because of the traditional preference for sons. Experts say this preference has led to the under-reporting of female births, as well as abortion of female foetuses and female infanticide. This has led to the problem of gender imbalance in China, with state media reporting last month that there will be 30 million more men of marriageable age than women in less than 15 years. Image Read
