36 years of China’s one child policy

36 Photos

Reuters photographer Carlos Barria photographed a person born in each year China’s One Child Policy has been in existence – from a man born in 1979, to a baby born in 2014 – and asked them if they would have like to have siblings.

China, the world’s most populous country with nearly 1.4 billion people, says the country’s one-child policy has averted 400 million births since 1980, saving scarce food resources and helping to pull families out of poverty. Couples violating the policy have had to pay a fine, or in some cases have been forced to undergo abortions. But late last year, China said it would allow millions of families to have two children, part of a plan to raise fertility rates and ease the financial burden on a rapidly aging population.