China : The outcome of the seventh national population census released on Tuesday has attracted wide attention. Three experts shared their views with China Daily’s Zhang Xi on how China should better adapt to population trends. Excerpts follow:
Long-term policy needed to encourage births
The seventh census showed a population of 1.41 billion for the Chinese mainland, with an annual growth rate of 0.53 percent in the past decade, down from 0.57 percent from 2000 to 2010.
The population aged below 14 reached more than 253 million, accounting for 17.95 percent of the total population, up 1.35 percentage points compared with 2010.
The increase in the population below 14 has showed the easing of population policy has indeed led to new births. However, much more has to be done to address acute population changes.
China began to ease the family planning policy in 2014, allowing couples where one or both are only children to have two children. The policy was further relaxed in 2016 to allow all couples to have two children.
Indeed, the newborn population reached 18 million in 2016 and 17 million in 2017, but statistics showed it fell to 12 million in 2020. That means the effects of the policy easing has been declining, with the potential of second births already explored.
As the experience of developed countries shows, a favorable family planning policy alone cannot reverse declining birth rate trends. The authorities should therefore encourage couples to do their own family planning, which is the original purpose of easing the family planning policy, so as to increase the birth rate.
Another feasible solution to China’s demographic problem could be revising outdated policies and provisions, implementing a comprehensive series of pro-family measures covering marriage, prenatal and postnatal care, children’s education, housing, social insurance and elder care, and striking the right balance between parents’ childcare duties and career development.
It is also critical to create a maternity-friendly, child-friendly and family-friendly social and cultural environment to encourage couples to have two children, with the government providing more support for parents in raising children, especially guaranteeing quality education. In other words, the family planning policy should better mesh with related social and economic policies.
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