China’s demographic crisis may spell the beginning of the end for its draconian population controls.

China’s demographic crisis may spell the beginning of the end for its draconian population controls. Faced with its own aging population and declining birthrate, China’s original “one child” policy and now its “two child” policy seem destined for the scrapheap. A state-run news agency has reported that lawmakers have scrubbed so-called “family planning” from a draft of upcoming laws. China first officially limited the number of children women could bear in 1979, though its leaders had encouraged its people to reduce family sizes even earlier, wary of millions more mouths to feed.