Socio-economic determinants of induced abortion in China

China, which has the world’s largest population and the most stringent family planning programme, has experienced one of the world’s most remarkable fertility declines. A number of censuses and surveys in China, plus an extensive body of international studies, have consistently documented and examined the rapid fertility transition in the country over the last 30 years (see for example Lin, 1986; Peng,1991; Hull and Yang, 1991; Liu, 1992; Gu, 1994; Chen, 1995; Zha, 1996; Feeney, 1994 and Yu 2000). Explanations of the Chinese fertility decline have concentrated on the dominant role of China’s family planning programme, and to a lesser extent on social and economic development (see for example Birdsall and Jamison, 1983; Poston and Gu, 1987; Liu, 1992; Peng and Huang, 1993; Yang, 1994 and Poston 2000). China’s family planning programme is directly related to changes in the proximate determinants of fertility and induced abortion is recognized as a major contributor to the fertility decline.