I was under the impression the one child policy never applied in poor rural areas. If it was universally enforced I’d like to see an explanation for China’s population growth over a period where it would have experienced a decline.

It generally wasn’t strictly enforced anyway, as in, if you had a second child, you could pay a fine, and legally register your child.

And yes, it didn’t apply to rural areas as well.

I had a friend in China who lived in Shenzhen and has 3 children, he essentially just payed two fines (not even sure how much it was).

Must give parents leverage when arguing with a child

„I paid a 50000 yuan fine for you just so you could live! Now do your homework!“

I doubt that works.

Every parent spends lots of money on their children. It should be a gift, not a dept.

If people don't die as early as before and you have few newborns you can still experience growth for a while.

I agree but definitely think 1979 to 2016 is longer than that while.

This is a big factor, but poor rural areas usually just blatantly ignore child number limits anyway. So, unlikely to be the sole reason.

So, your saying which people have children is a concern? That is.. sad

Perhaps it’s more a function of the “where” (rural)? That’s less sad, imo.

Perhaps time for better social security then.

Which also happens, there are significant anti-poverty efforts in China that have been quite effective.

Attacking both sides of a problem is sometimes necessary for effectively dealing with it.