Editing Human population planning (section)

====One-child era (1979–2015)====
{{Main|One-child policy}}
The most significant population planning system in the world was China's [[one-child policy]], in which, with various exceptions, having more than one child was discouraged. Unauthorized births were punished by fines, although there were also allegations of illegal forced [[abortion]]s and [[forced sterilization]].<ref name=dewey>Arthur E. Dewey, Assistant Secretary for Population, Refugees and Migration Testimony before the House International Relations Committee Washington, DC 14 December 2004 {{cite web |url=http://statelists.state.gov/scripts/wa.exe?A2=ind0412c&L=dossdo&P=401 |title=Archived copy |access-date=31 July 2009 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110721062432/http://statelists.state.gov/scripts/wa.exe?A2=ind0412c&L=dossdo&P=401 |archive-date=21 July 2011 }}</ref> As part of China's planned birth policy, (work) unit supervisors monitored the fertility of married women and may decide whose turn it is to have a baby.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://lcweb2.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/r?frd/cstdy:@field(DOCID+cn0081) |title= China : a country study|website=lcweb2.loc.gov |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130303220526/http://lcweb2.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/r?frd%2Fcstdy%3A%40field%28DOCID+cn0081%29 |archive-date=3 March 2013}}</ref>

The Chinese government introduced the policy in 1978 to alleviate the social and [[Environmental issues in the People's Republic of China|environmental problems of China]].<ref>{{citation|author=Pascal Rocha da Silva|title=La politique de l'enfant unique en République Populaire de Chine|year=2006|publisher=[[Université de Genève]]|pages=22–28|url=http://www.sinoptic.ch/textes/recherche/2006/200608_Rocha.Pascal_memoire.pdf|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071128072311/http://www.sinoptic.ch/textes/recherche/2006/200608_Rocha.Pascal_memoire.pdf |archive-date= 28 November 2007}}</ref> According to government officials, the policy has helped prevent 400 million births. The success of the policy has been questioned, and reduction in fertility has also been attributed to the modernization of China.<ref>{{cite news | url = http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/7000931.stm | work = BBC News | title = Has China's one-child policy worked? | date = 20 September 2007 | url-status = live | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20080719103208/http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/7000931.stm | archive-date = 19 July 2008 }}</ref> The policy is controversial both within and outside of China because of its manner of implementation and because of concerns about negative economic and social consequences e.g. [[female infanticide]]. In Asian cultures, the oldest male child has responsibility of caring for the parents in their old age. Therefore, it is common for Asian families to invest most heavily in the oldest male child, such as providing college, steering them into the most lucrative careers, and so on. To these families, having an oldest male child is paramount, so in a one-child policy, daughters have no economic benefit, so daughters, especially as a first child, are often targeted for abortion or infanticide. China introduced several government reforms to increase retirement payments to coincide with the one-child policy. During that time, couples could request permission to have more than one child.<ref>{{cite news |first=Max |last=Fisher |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/worldviews/wp/2013/11/16/chinas-rules-for-when-families-can-and-cant-have-more-than-one-child/ |title=China's rules for when families can and can't have more than one child |newspaper=The Washington Post |date=16 November 2013 |access-date=8 May 2016 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160610152024/https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/worldviews/wp/2013/11/16/chinas-rules-for-when-families-can-and-cant-have-more-than-one-child/ |archive-date=10 June 2016 }}</ref>
[[File:China Pop Pyramid Forecast.gif|thumb|China's population distribution in 2012, 2015 and 2020]]
According to [[Tibetology|Tibetologist]] [[Melvyn Goldstein]], natalist feelings run high in China's [[Tibet Autonomous Region]], among both ordinary people and government officials. Seeing [[population control]] "as a matter of power and ethnic survival" rather than in terms of ecological [[sustainability]], Tibetans successfully argued for an exemption of [[Tibetan people]] from the usual [[family planning]] policies in China such as the [[one-child policy]].<ref>{{Cite journal | doi = 10.2307/2645246 | title = China's Birth Control Policy in the Tibet Autonomous Region| journal= [[Asian Survey]] | author1-link= Melvyn Goldstein |first1= Melvyn |last1= Goldstein |first2= Beall|last2= Cynthia|date=March 1991|volume= 31 | issue= 3| pages= 285–303| jstor = 2645246}}</ref>