Summary

China's one-child policy is widely considered one of the most stringent public policies in modern history. Yet researchers have long debated how much it actually contributed to the country's dramatic fertility decline. China's fertility rate changed relatively little following the policy's introduction in 1979–1980. It was not until a decade later, in the 1990s, that fertility fell sharply, dropping by more than one-third, from approximately 2.5 to 1.6 births per woman—below "replacement rate" fertility.

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