Opinion: Help parents who've lost only child

Second, there should not be any difference between the compensation paid to urban and rural parents who lose their only child, because rural people too have the right to share the fruits of China's economic development. Also, the authorities should make efforts to guarantee such parents' livelihood after retirement. In this context, the National Health and Family Planning Commission's decision in December 2013 to provide 340 yuan a month as compensation for 49-plus-year-old urban mothers who lose their only child and restrict the amount to 170 yuan for those in rural areas goes against social equality.

Third, all parents who lose their only child should receive compensation from the government. Even parents who have a second child or adopt a child after losing their first one deserve the financial support - the amount, of course, could be smaller. Since parents who lose their only child suffer from financial difficulties and emotional trauma, the special social security system, discussed in the preceding lines, could make them feel that society does care for their well-being.

Fourth, the authorities should take measures to ensure families that have lost their only child can sustain themselves and overcome the shock of their loss. There is need, therefore, to set up some kind of association to provide psychological consultation and livelihood support for such families.

A China Family Planning Association survey in 2011, which covered more than 1,500 families in 14 provinces that had lost their only child, found that many of them were facing difficulties in their daily lives related mostly to healthcare, and more than half of the families' income was lower than the local average.

About half of the parents who have lost their only child suffer from depression, 70-80 percent of them suffer from psychological trauma and mental disorder, and more than 60 percent have chronic diseases. When parents who lose their only child get older or fall sick, they can at best approach neighbors for help. Given this situation, the authorities should provide special aid for elderly parents who have lost their only child and take care of them through welfare organizations.

The author is a professor at the Population Research Institute of Peking University.