One-Child Policy Sticks

China's top population official announced Monday that the country's one-child family planning policy will not change for at least another decade.

The official, Zhang Weiqing, minister of the National Population and Family Planning Commission, said China would not make any major changes to the overall family planning policy until an anticipated surge in births is expected to end roughly a decade from now.

“The current family planning policy, formed as a result of gradual changes in the past two decades, has proved compatible with national conditions,” Mr. Zhang said in a front-page interview published Monday in China Daily, the country’s official English-language newspaper.

Zhang said more than 200 million people will enter childbearing age in the next 10 years. China currently has a population of 1.3 billion people. Removing the policy would lead to pressure on social and economic development, he said.

Most urban families are only allowed one child, whereas families in rural communities are often allowed to have two. Ethnic minority families are sometimes allowed to have two or more children.

Critics say the policy, which was launched in the 1970s, has led to forced abortions, sterilization and an imbalanced gender ratio.

The one-child family planning policy has been reconsidered in recent months because of concern about the aging population and economic growth.

Beijing's leaders have allowed more open discussion of the issue, particularly as the country continues its path of rapid economic and social change.

Well, I guess we'll see what happens in 10 years.