Article source / Corps comrades-in-arms
Reflecting on the 30 years of family planning, what problems has the only child brought to society?
Do you know? Since 1981, China has entered a "one-child era". The hallmark of this era is that a couple can only have one child, otherwise they will be fined, their wages will be deducted, and even they will be expelled. The purpose of this era is to control population growth and allow the country to have more resources and wealth. As a result of this era, we have lost more than 400 million children, but it has also left a bunch of problems for society.
What are these challenges? You may have guessed some, such as aging, pension, medical care, and so on. But what you may not realize is that these problems are actually different manifestations of one big problem. This big problem is the imbalance of the population structure.
What is demographic imbalance? To put it simply, there are too many old people and too few young people. Such a situation has never been seen in history. If you think about it, if one-third of the people in a country are over 60 years old, then the remaining two-thirds of the people will have to be divided into children and students, and then even fewer people can actually work and create wealth. In this way, who will feed so many old people? Who pays Social Security and taxes? Who will support economic and social development?
You may say, we have a social security system, we have a pension. But you know what? Both the social security system and pensions are maintained by young people. Every month, everyone who works has to deduct a part of the money from their salary and hand it over to the social security fund pool. Then every month, each retired person receives a part of the money from the social security fund pool as a pension. This may seem wonderful, but the problem is that if more and more people retire and fewer people work, then there will be less and less money in the social security fund pool. In the end, you may not even be able to pay out your pension.
Therefore, delaying retirement is actually a helpless move. While it's hard to get everyone to work for a few more years, if you don't, you may end up without a pension. This is no small matter, and it is about the future happiness and dignity of everyone.
In addition to the problem of aging, there is another problem that only children face, and that is family problems. In the past, the "four-two-one" structure was common, with four grandparents, two parents, and one child forming a family. Such a family structure looks warm, however, such a family structure also has great hidden dangers. Think about it, if a child has to take care of six elderly people, how much pressure will he have? If one of the elderly people is sick and hospitalized, how can he go to care, accompany, pay, deliver meals, etc.? If he has children of his own, how can he balance work, family and the elderly? If his spouse is also an only child, how do they reconcile the family issues between the two parties?
These problems may sound like a headache, but for only children, they are a reality that they have to face. They have to bear not only their own responsibilities and obligations, but also the expectations and hopes of their parents and grandparents. Not only do they have to work hard for their future, but they also have to protect their parents and grandparents in their old age. They are not only to provide the best education and environment for their children, but also to provide the best medical care and care for their parents and grandparents.
In this way, the only child becomes a "sandwich biscuit", squeezed by the pressure of all sides. They have no siblings to share with, and no relatives or friends to draw on. They can only rely on their own efforts and wisdom to cope with various difficulties and challenges.
This is the legacy of 30 years of family planning. An era of only children, an era of demographic imbalance, and an era of serious aging.
Are we ready?
Actually, we weren't ready. We are still figuring out how to address these issues, how to adapt to these changes, and how to improve them. We are still trying to let go of the second child and encourage the third child, but the effect is not ideal. We are still trying to delay retirement, increase social security, and increase medical resources, but the pressure is still very high. We are still trying to give more support, care and understanding to our only child, but there are still many difficulties.
There is a lot to do, there is a lot to change, and there is a lot to pay.