Overview
- State media lauded Peng, who led the Family Planning Commission from 1988 to 1998, after she died in Beijing just short of her 96th birthday.
- Weibo users posted searing critiques of the one‑child policy, including messages mourning children lost to forced abortions and sterilisations.
- China enforced a near‑universal one‑child rule from 1980 to 2015, with coercive tactics that were often concentrated in rural areas where Peng focused efforts.
- By the 2010s Peng had publicly urged easing the policy, but China’s population still fell for a third straight year to about 1.39 billion in 2024 after losing the top spot to India in 2023.
- Authorities offer childcare subsidies, longer maternity leave and tax benefits to lift births, as experts warn the decline could quicken and strain labour supply and local government finances.