Overview
Throughout history, only children were relatively uncommon. Faced with declining birth rates, birth control, inflation, and a larger demand for the workforce, more families began to raise just one child. In recent years, the number of families in the United States, Europe, and Japan choosing to have one child has increased considerably since the 1940s, coinciding with achieving equality in the workforce. After the Korean War ended in 1953, the South Korean government suggested citizens each have one or two children to boost economic prosperity, which resulted in significantly lowered birth rates and a larger number of only children to the country. Since 1979, the one-child policy in mainland China has restricted most parents to having an only child, although it is subject to local relaxations and individual circumstances.
Families may have an only child for a variety of reasons, including: personal preference, family planning, financial and emotional or physical health issues, desire to travel, stress in the family, educational advantages, late marriage, stability, focus, time constraints, fears over pregnancy, advanced age, infertility, divorce, and death of a sibling or parent.
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