Outline the background to Chinas One Child Family policy and assess its likely success.

China has long been a nation with a large populace. By the time the Peoples Republic of China (PRC) was founded in 1949 its population totalled 540 million. By July 1990 Chinas population reached 1.16 billion and accounted for 22% of the worlds population (Chen, 1995). In addition to a rapid increase in population, poor population characteristics and uneven distribution have affected the countrys development. Few countries in the world cope with such high population pressures as Chinas thus social and economic problems are inevitable consequences….(short extract)