Which country recently rejected one child norm policy and allowed parents to have another child?

China is the answer. In October 2015 the Communist Party ended the one-child norm, and the two-child policy took effect on 1 January 2016, allowing couples to have a second child. China later moved to a three-child policy in 2021, so if a question asks about the current position, that is the update to remember.

The one-child policy was introduced in the late 1970s to curb population growth and was enforced through fines, quotas and, in some places, coercion. Its side effects included a skewed sex ratio, a shrinking working-age population and rapid ageing, which is why it was relaxed in stages from 2013.

• Sweden and Finland: neither had a one-child norm. Both have low fertility and use incentives such as generous parental leave and child benefits to encourage births, so there was no restriction to reject.
• Cuba: Cuba has a strong family planning and health system with easy access to contraception, but it never imposed a legal one-child rule. Its low birth rate reflects social and economic factors.

Mains angle: this reversal links to the demographic dividend, ageing and gender imbalance, which are recurring GS-I and GS-II themes on population policy.

Trap: candidates pick Sweden or Finland because they associate them with low fertility and welfare policy, and forget that the question asks about a country that actually had a one-child mandate.