The Challenge of an Aging Population

Policymakers and demographers in China are cognizant of the implications of the one-child family policy for the eventual aging of their nation's population and are beginning to incorporate attention to the elderly into the economic and population policies being developed. A major stumbling block to the acceptance of the one-child family policy, especially in rural areas, has been fear about security in old age. As the one-child family becomes widely established, it will become increasingly difficult for the only child to support two elderly parents.