China is considering further measures to raise its birth rate more than four years after the end of its controversial single child policy
BEIJING – China is considering additional measures to increase the birth rate significantly, more than four years after the end of its controversial single child policy.
For decades, China has imposed strict controls on extra births in the name of keeping scarce resources for its growing economy. But the low birth rate is now seen as a major threat to economic progress and social stability.
On Thursday, the National Health Commission issued a statement saying it would conduct research to “further stimulate birth potential.”
He said the initiative would first focus on northeastern China, the country’s former industrial country, which has seen a major decline in population as young people and families move to better opportunities elsewhere. The region comprising the three provinces of Liaoning, Jilin and Heilongjiang recorded a total population decline for the seventh consecutive year by 427,300 in 2019 in 2018.
Authorities said last week that new births fell 15.3 percent last year to just 10 million.
China abandoned 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 cost of raising children and other economic and social barriers in deciding not to have more children.
Experts called for further reforms due to economic concerns and the aging population.
China had a population of 1.34 billion in 2010, with an annual growth rate of 0.57%, down from 1.07% a decade earlier, according to statistics. The last census was conducted in the second half of last year, and the results have not yet been published.
A UN report says India is expected to overtake China as the most populous country in the world by 2027.
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This story has been corrected to show that the authorities announced the new birth figures last week, not this week.