You will need to be quick if you want to 'catch' this! During the PM programme on Radio 4 on Monday of this week (16th October), there was a 5 minute discussion of China's one child policy - in particular, the problem of an ever declining work force having to support an increasingly aged population. You can listen to the discussion on the BBC's 'Listen Again' facility for up to a week after broadcast. Here is how to do this......Click on the image above and you will link to the BBC Radio's homepage. From here, look in the blue 'Listen' column on the right and select 'Launch BBC Radio Player'. Choose Radio 4 and scroll down the alphabetic list until you come to PM. Select Monday and you will immediately (if you have your speakers on!) hear the beginning of the programme. Use the buttons at the top to advance through to 48 minutes. The discussion of China's one child policy begins at 48 minutes and 30 seconds.
There are some good statistics to note down and a few new perspectives on the policy. You might like to think about the following....
How will the % of people over 65yrs change in the next 25 years?
How and why will the dependency ratio change?
What are the implications of this for a country like China where the economy is currently booming ?
There is more on the one child policy on the department blog for Sunday 29th June 2006 at http://www.gmpay.blogspot.com/
