BIRTH RATE IN CHINA FALLS TO LOWEST LEVEL IN 70 YEARS

BEIJING: China’s the birth rate has fallen to its lowest level in nearly 70 years despite the Communist Party of China (CPC) easing the one-child policy three years ago, according to the latest official statistics.

The birth rate in China is now 10.48 per 1,000, official data released by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) on Friday said. In real terms, the number of newborns dropped by 580,000 to 14.65 million.

China’s birth rate has been falling for years and that was why the government gradually eased the one-child policy, which was in place since the late 1970s.

The latest figures reflect severe structural and demographic problems, which is an alarming sign and merits policy attention, analysts told the statecontrolled media.

In simple terms, it means China now has an ageing population and the smaller, younger and working population would have to support older generations.

The new data marked consecutive declines in the country’s newborn figures. Chinese mothers gave birth to 15.23 million in 2018, marking the lowest number since 1961.

“The birth rate in 2019, lower than the 10.94 per 1,000 in 2018 and 12.43 per 1,000 in 2017, was also the lowest recorded since 1952,” Ning Jizhe, head of the NBS, said at a press meet on Friday.

Zhai Zhenwu, president of the School of Sociology and Population Studies at the Renmin University of China, believes the number of newborns in 2019 conformed to expectations of around 14.5 million.

“The number of 14.65 million newborns is still quite large compared to the US, where the annual newborn population stands at around 4 million,” Zhai told the tabloid Global Times.

Many of those surveyed for a government report last year had said a factor for not wanting a second child was the rising cost of raising children.