China is considering additional measures to increase its flagging birth rate more than four years after ending its controversial one-child policy
BEIJING – China is considering additional measures to increase the striking birth rate, more than four years after the controversial one-child policy ended.
For decades, China has enforced strict controls on extra births in the name of preserving scarce resources for its fast-growing economy. But the declining birth rate is now seen as a major threat to economic progress and social stability.
On Thursday, the National Health Commission released a statement saying it will conduct research to “ further boost birth potential. ”
It said the initiative will primarily target northeast China, the country’s former industrial heartland that has seen a major population decline as young people and families leave for better opportunities elsewhere. In the region encompassing the three provinces of Liaoning, Jilin and Heilongjiang, the total population decreased for the seventh year in a row by 427,300 in 2018.
Authorities said last week that the number of registered new births fell by 15.3% last year to just 10 million.
China gave up its one-child policy in 2016 to allow families to have an extra child. However, the move had only a temporary effect on the birth rate, with many couples citing the high costs of raising children and other economic and social barriers in deciding not to have children.
Experts have called for further reforms amid economic concerns and the problem of an aging population.
China had a population of 1.34 billion people in 2010 with an annual growth of 0.57%, up from 1.07% a decade earlier, according to data from the statistics office. The latest census took place in the second half of last year and the results have not yet been announced.
According to a UN report, India is expected to overtake China as the world’s most populous country by 2027.
This story has been corrected to show that authorities announced the new birth rates last week, not this week.