<Tr> <Th_colspan="2"> Standard Mandarin </Th> </Tr> <Tr> <Th> Hanyu Pinyin </Th> <Td> Dúshēng zǐnǚ zhèngcè </Td> </Tr> <P> The one - child policy, a part of the family planning policy, was a population planning policy of China . It was introduced in 1979 and began to be formally phased out near the end of 2015 and the beginning of 2016 . The policy was only enforced on Han Chinese and allowed exceptions for many groups, including ethnic minorities . In 2007, 36% of China's population was subject to a strict one - child restriction, with an additional 53% being allowed to have a second child if the first child was a girl . Provincial governments imposed fines for violations, and the local and national governments created commissions to raise awareness and carry out registration and inspection work . </P> <P> According to the Chinese government, 400 million births were prevented . Scholars have widely disputed this claim with Martin King Whyte and Wang et al finding that the policy had little effect on population growth or the size of the total population . China has been compared to countries with similar socioeconomic development like Thailand and Iran, along with the Indian states of Kerala and Tamil Nadu, which achieved similar declines of fertility without a one - child policy . Although 76% of Chinese people supported the policy in a 2008 survey, it was controversial outside of China . </P>

When did the china one child policy start