This October, China issued a proposal to alter its one-child policy to a two-child policy. Before it announced the new proposal, China had already been making relaxations on the policy, allowing married couples to have a second child if the father or mother is an only child. Thus, the new two-child policy can be seen as an extension of the relaxed policy.

China has claimed that the foremost purpose of the new policy is to enhance the country’s low birthrate and lower the percentage of its elderly population. According to an article in ABC News, the Chinese government has predicted that the newly implemented policy will help put more than 30 million adults into the country’s workforce by 2050. Yet, certain outside forces may hinder the two-child policy from serving its demographic purpose.

Superficially, the policy seems to have the capacity to bring extensive population change and increase the country’s low birthrate. However, the high cost of living in cities and the massive gap between the rich and the poor may prevent the policy from functioning properly, leaving it a hollow reform that looks more meaningful than it is.

China’s cost of living has been continually rising the past few decades. Although its economy has been and is constantly developing, the financial gap between the rich and poor has become exceedingly large, making it hard for the average individual living in a large city to raise children.

Even before the issue of implementing a new two-child policy was brought up, citizens had already shown negative outlooks on having more than one child. A CNN article published last January illustrated a case in which a man living in Beijing asserted that he does not wish to have more than one child because of the high living expenses. It also explained that only 30,000 couples living in Beijing applied for the allowance to have another child: much less than expected.

The man’s statement, as a reaction to the introduction of the 2014 child-control policy, shows that unlike in the past, many citizens of present-day China feel that having more than one child puts a heavy burden on their shoulders. The fact that many citizens are already showing reluctance over having children demonstrates that it may be unlikely for the new two-child policy to substantially augment China’s low birthrate.

In addition, although China has strictly enforced a one-child policy on the general population for decades, many affluent couples did not hesitate to break the law in order to have more than one child. Because they had more than enough money to support a second child, many wealthy individuals of high status were willing and able to break the rules and compensate by paying huge fines. Thus, it is questionable that the new policy will have a revolutionizing effect on Chinese society and break the status quo. While the wealthy can choose to have a second child, most of the population does not have the capability to support two children.

Although the two-child policy is unreliable and incapable of demographically changing Chinese society, the proposal is still meaningful. The new policy reflects China’s attempt to gradually abolish its birth control policies and democratize its government system. However, in order to make the two-child policy function properly, China must first figure out ways to lower the financial instability among citizens living in big cities, make it economically possible for the average individual to consider having two children and lessen the gap between the rich and the poor. Only then will the new policy serve its actual purpose.