China’s pro-birth policies not yet enough to counter demographic crisis, expert warns
Cash subsidies for multiple children are doing little to offset China’s declining fertility rate that has far-reaching economic implications
If China’s fertility rate remains on its downward trajectory, for every newborn in the future, six people would die – a trend that threatens to intensify the nation’s demographic crisis, a demographer has cautioned.
“With the current half-hearted incentive policies, not only is it impossible to raise the fertility rate, but even maintaining it at 1.0 seems out of reach,” warned a recent report published by the YuWa Population Research Institute.
“Anti-marriage and anti-childbearing sentiments are intensifying, and the pro-birth policies aren’t even enough to counter this downward trend.”
China’s fertility rate dropped to 1.09 in 2022, according to an estimate by the China Population and Development Research Centre, while the total fertility rate in Shanghai, one of China’s wealthiest cities, dipped to 0.6 in 2023, according to the municipality.
The fertility rate refers to the average number of children born to each woman, while a replacement fertility rate of 2.1 children per woman is widely accepted as the necessary rate for a country’s population to remain constant.
Demographers have said it is possible that China’s fertility rate dropped below 1.0 in 2023, but China has not provided an official fertility rate for last year.
