Families bereft of their only child 失獨(dú)家庭 (Shi du jia ting)

Statistics estimate that over a million families have lost their only child in China, many of which are unable to reproduce, and the number of such families is still increasing. Under the current family planning policy, there is an estimated population of 190 million only children aged 15 to 30.

Given the fact that women biologically over 49 are incapable of giving birth, elderly mothers losing their only child have little possibility of having another baby.