China's+One-child+Policy+After+1987

//Explain how the policy changed after 1987 and what exceptions exist.//

China started to implement the ‘one-child policy’ (which is also known in China as the “birth plan”) in the year 1979. This policy stated that every family in China could only have one children, this was to decrease the population growth in the country. Even though it was supposed to be a rigid policy, the government gave exceptions to families living in rural areas. The places where the problem was worse were the crowded cities (the red and dark orange areas shown in the map below), so the policy was strong around those areas. The Government knew the families living in rural areas needed more than one child to take care of their lands and of their parents as they grew older, so the government didn’t implement this policy in the rural areas. During the years 1986 and 1987, China's birthrate increased from 18 to 21. After this the government made the system more flexible and allowed more exceptions. In 2002 the Chinese government changed the policy again. The policy was now applied to ethic Han Chinese only. There are about 55 tribes in China, including the Uygher, Naxi, Hui tribes. All of these tribes don’t have to obey this policy.

China achieved in controlling the population growth by nearly 300 million people in the first twenty years of the policy. The Chinese government started a five-year plan period in 2005, which means that they will continue with this policy for now.