Giving a Boost to Families
More efforts needed to build a familyfriendly society to encourage parents to have up to three children
Xiong Yue has made up her mind not to have a second child. “It’s too energy-consuming and my family has reached a consensus not to have another kid,” the 33-year-old stay-athome mother of a 2-year-old in Shenzhen, Guangdong Province, told Chinafrica. Young people’s willingness to have children is declining in China. According to a press conference held by the National Health Commission in January, the number of children that the surveyed women of childbearing age planned to have on average was 1.76, 1.73, and 1.64 in 2017, 2019 and 2021, respectively.
According to the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS), the number of newborns fell to 10.62 million in 2021, marking a decline for five consecutive years, and the birthrate was 7.52 per 1,000. Both the number of newborns and birth rate were the lowest since 1949.
Total fertility rate (TFR) — the number of children per woman — fell to 1.47 in 2019 and 1.3 in 2020, below the warning line of 1.5. Demographers believe that once the TFR falls below 1.5, a country will fall into the low fertility trap and birth rates won’t easily rebound.
In the year after the universal two-child policy was introduced in 2015, the number of newborns was 17.89 million, 1.31 million more than the previous year. However, the number of newborns went down to 17.23 million in 2017, 15.23 million in 2018 and 14.65 million in 2019.
The China Population and Development Research Center predicted that China will enter a stage of negative population growth in 10 years.
Diminished desire
There are multiple complicated reasons behind the declining birth rate. First of all, the number of women of childbearing age (15-49) dropped by 5 million in 2021 compared with the previous year, of which women aged 21 to 35 decreased by around 3 million, according to the NBS.
The mindset regarding childbirth has also changed. Traditional conceptions of having children to continue the family line or bringing up children to support parents in their old age have weakened, even in rural areas. As those born after 1990, and even 2000, become the primary force of childbearing, they are delaying marriage and childbirth as their length of education increases and they face more competition on the job market.
In addition, as the costs of bringing up a child mount, many are reluctant to have more than one. According to an online survey of 1,205 people in 64 cities across China, conducted by China Economic Times in May last year, 80.65 percent of those surveyed considered the costs of raising and educating children too high and 6.59 percent said they lacked the time to take care of kids.
Chu Haonan, Deputy Director of the Human Resources Research Institute at the China University of Labor Relations, said the primary reason for the reluctance to have children is the high cost of childbirth and care, which includes childrearing, education and time costs.
The COVID-19 pandemic has also contributed to the reduced birth rate as people have postponed marriage and childbirth out of concerns over job and income instability, she said.
A family-friendly society
The birth policy adjustment needs to be supported by relevant measures. Only by reducing families’ childrearing burdens can the birth policy adjustment achieve its desired effect.
Experts say birth and childrearing support is not an isolated policy that can be implemented by a single department, but needs to be a comprehensive system that requires the concerted efforts of multiple government departments as well as social services. Employment, taxation and housing policies should all be revised to reduce the financial burden of families with one or multiple children and promote the formation of a family-friendly society.
Low fertility rate is not a social problem unique to China. Long before China, Europe already encountered fertility rates lower than the replacement level. Some European countries have implemented policies to extend maternity leave, provide free childcare and provide subsidies to ensure women’s employment. Compared with these countries, China still has a long way to go to become a family-friendly society.
Following the issuance of the decision on improving birth policies in July last year by the Communist Part of China (CPC) Central Committee and the State Council, provinces and municipalities across the country have revised their population and family planning regulations to improve birth rates and create a family-friendly environment. For instance, Beijing has increased women’s extended maternity leave from 30 to 60 days and allows parents who have children under 3 to enjoy five days of childcare leave every year. In Hebei, Jiangxi and Zhejiang provinces, women who give birth to a second or third child are allowed to extend their maternity leave by 90 days.
Improving care services for children under 3 is also considered important for reducing parental burdens. Care services for children under 3 are lacking in China, with most of these children taken care of by