Can China encourage its people to have more babies? New local government proposal attempts to address demographic fears
- Proposal to create a ‘good matchmaking environment’ and motivate women aged between 21 to 29 to give birth includes increasing benefits for married couples
- Experts raise doubts over the proposal, pointing to ethical issues over further population control and the high cost of living in Chinese cities
A local government proposal that encourages people in China to have more babies has reignited concerns over the country’s looming demographic crisis and raised doubt over whether it can work.
Guo Xingping, director of the state-owned Shanxi Province Reproductive Science Institute, presented the proposal to legislators in the central province of Shanxi. He said the government should create a “good matchmaking environment and encourage women aged between 21 and 29 to give birth during this optimal reproductive period”.
The proposal addresses deep anxiety China has about a future demographic crisis, with the country’s ageing society and declining workforce threatening its future development. To combat this, the proposal suggests a framework be developed to incentivise people to have more babies.
China’s population could start to shrink as soon as 2027, according to a worst-case scenario proposed by the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, a state-run think tank in Beijing. The government worries that such a scenario could slow down economic growth and put pressure on the national pension fund.
