Legacy of One- Child Policy Is Likely More Male Births, Not Fewer Births China's total fertility rate
The Chinese government recently announced it would further relax its decades-old one-child policy, but this shift might not dramatically affect the birth rate and the gender imbalance in China – at least not in the near term.
China’s fertility rate certainly declined since the advent of the one-child policy in 1980. But that decline seems to be a continuation of a trend that was already well underway prior to the policy’s official implementation. The country’s total fertility rate stood at almost six births per woman in the 1960s, but by 1980, it had already fallen below three births per woman. As of 2013, the typical Chinese woman was expected to have about 1.6 children in her lifetime.
Legacy of One- Child Policy Is Likely  | More Male Births, Not Fewer Births  | China's total fertility rate  | 7 births per woman  | China's one-child  | 6 5  | policy begins  | 4  | 3  | Birth fall rate before began  | 2  | to fall before began  | policy took effect  | 1  | 0  | '60 '65 70 '75 '80 '85 '90 `95 '00 '05 '10 '13  | Sex ratio at birth (male births per female births)  | 1.4  | Sex ratio rose shortly  | 1.3  | afte r policy took effect  | 1.2  | China  | 1.1  | World  | 1.0  | '60 665 70 '75 '80 '85 '90 `95 '00 '05 '10 13  | Source: World Bank  | PEW RESEARCH CENTER 