Beijing, Oct. 16 (BNA): China will enact policies to boost the birth rate as policy makers are concerned that the impending decline in China’s population could hurt the world’s second largest economy.
“We will establish a policy system to increase birth rates and pursue a proactive national strategy in response to the aging population,” President Xi Jinping said, according to Reuters.
Although China has 1.4 billion people, the largest number in the world, its births are expected to drop to record levels this year, demographers say, dropping to less than 10 million from 10.6 million babies last year — already down by 11.5% from 2020.
The authorities enforced the one-child policy from 1980 to 2015, and later switched to the three-child policy, recognizing that the nation was on the verge of a demographic contraction.
The fertility rate of 1.16 in 2021 was below the OECD standard of 2.1 for a stable population and among the lowest in the world.
Over the past year or so, authorities have introduced measures such as tax cuts, longer maternity leave, enhanced medical insurance, housing subsidies, extra money for a third child, and a crackdown on expensive private tutoring.
However, Chinese women’s desire to have children is the lowest in the world, a survey published in February by research center YuWa Population Research showed.
Demographers say the measures taken so far are not enough. They cited high education costs, low wages and long working hours known as issues that still need to be addressed, along with COVID-19 policies and economic growth concerns.
FAE