bodyType

customContents

entityId

entityUuid

articlePageQuery

filter

article

articleBaseAdvertisingInfoArticle

articleListArticle

articleSeoArticle

helpersCheckIsPostiesArticle

hooksArticleAcknowledgementGateOverlayArticle

hooksTrackPageViewArticle

hooksContentInterestArticle

articleLinkingDataContent

articleSchemaContent

liveArticle

advertZone

sentiment

contentLock

topics

types

sections

moreOnThisArticles

urlAlias

commentCount

authorLocations

authors

paywallTypes

corrections

sponsorType

displaySlideShow

multimediaEmbed

printHeadline

seriesContainer

socialHeadline

headline

flag

firstTopic

glossary

flattenTypeIds

publishedDate

additionalInfoBoxes

images

image

relatedLinks

relatedNewsletters

__typename

createdDate

sponsor

factSheets

seriesReverseOrder

series

disableOffPlatformContent

published

updatedDate

summary

subHeadline

body

keywords

readingTime

customTimezone

liveContents

Sidney Leng

Chinese demography experts have called on the central government to further loosen its birth control policy within two years owing to a predicted population decline in 2018.
The warning came as the National Health and Family Planning Commission on Saturday announced that this year’s number of newborns would exceed 17.5 million – similar to the total number in 2000, online news portal Thepaper.cn reported.
Chinese families search for bigger homes as two-child policy means 17million babies could be born by 2021
Wang Peian, deputy director of the commission, China’s birth policy maker, said the new population total this year had met its expectations after it permitted all Chinese parents to have a second child from January 1 this year.
The commission’s estimates might be on target, but demographers said its figures did not include any reference to a harsher situation in the next two years, when newborn levels were expected to start to fall. As many women had already had their permitted second child the number of eligible childbearing women would fall, they said.
Kids are alright: China allows two children for all couples, ending decades-old policy

Many women had already had their permitted second child so the number of eligible childbearing women would drop, they said.
Huang Wenzheng, co-founder of Cnpop.org, a NGO analysing China’s demography and birth policies, said the number of Chinese women between the ages of 22 and 30 – the peak time for giving birth – would drop by about 40 per cent during the next 10 years.
The more developed an economy is, the higher the cost will be to raise children and the lower the willingness of women to give birth
He Yafu, author of The Uncontrollable Population Control
China has one of the world’s lowest total fertility rates – the average number of children that are born to a woman during her lifetime. According to the 2016 China Statistical Yearbook, the country’s 2015 fertility rate was about 1.05 – far below the 2.1 rate needed to keep the population level steady.
If China maintains the fertility rate at such a low level, it will devastate the country’s economy, which has been struggling to cope with an ageing population and shrinking labour force.
“The fertility rate is not decided by the birth control policy but by a country’s economic development,” said He Yafu, author of The Uncontrollable Population Control.
“The more developed an economy is, the higher the cost will be to raise children and the lower the willingness of women to give birth,” he said.
Once a one-child-policy wonder, which Chinese city is now urging party members to have second baby?
A recent report published by Beijing Normal University said the easing of the birth policy would make it more difficult for women with children to find work in the increasingly competitive labour market as companies might prefer to hire only men.
It said mothers with two children living in urban areas had a higher chance of sacrificing their career development than those with only one child.
Chinese demographers have long been sceptical about the commission’s official fertility figures because it has a history of exaggerating its figures.
In 2000, the commission insisted that China had a total fertility rate of 1.8, which contrasted markedly with the rate of 1.2 recorded by the 2000 national census.
A decade later, the 2010 national census confirmed that the fertility rate in 2000 had been below 1.4.


China’s population drops for third year in a row despite uptick in births

China meets annual GDP target with 5% growth in 2024 – as it happened

Chinese city bucks birth rate decline as cash incentives bear fruit

China’s calling in humanoid robots to care for granny as needs of elderly outpace workers

China's population

Call for China to further ease birth control policy amid fears of population decline in 2018

An NGO analysing China’s demography and birth policies, says the number of mainland women aged 22 to 30 – the peak time for giving birth – will drop by about 40 per cent during the next 10 years. Photo: AP

A nurse takes care of newborn infants at a hospital in Huai'an, Jiangsu province, in this March 3, 2008 file photo. China will ease family planning restrictions to allow all couples to have two children after decades of a strict one-child policy, the ruling Communist Party said on October 29, 2015, a move aimed at alleviating demographic strains on the economy. REUTERS/Patty Chen/FilesFROM THE FILES - "CHINA'S TWO CHILD POLICY"SEARCH "TWO CHILD" FOR ALL 14 IMAGES

News

China

Politics

People & Culture

NGO says number of mainland women aged 22 to 30 – the peak time for childbirth – will fall 40 per cent in 10 years
