China’s Record-low Birth rate

January 17, 2022

As per official data, birth rate in China declined to a record low in 2021, as analysts are warning over faster-than-expected ageing in the country.

Key Points

According to analysts, faster-than-expected ageing would deepen economic growth concerns.
China has already been grappling with a threatening demographic crisis with rapidly ageing workforce, weakest population growth in decades and slowing economy.

Birth rate in China

The birth rate in China in 2021 declined to 7.52 births per 1,000 people. In 2020, it was 8.52. It marks the lowest figure in China’s annual Statistical Yearbook data since 1978. It is also the lowest data, since Communist China was founded in 1949.

Changing child policy

In 2016, China relaxed the nation’s “one-child policy”. It allowed couples to two children. Even after easing one of the strictest family planning regulations worldwide, it has failed to bring a baby boom. In 2021, China extended the policy to allow couples to have three children.

Births in 2021

China registered 10.62 million births in 2021. The natural population growth rate decreased to 0.34 per 1000 people, as compared to 1.45 figure earlier.

China’s family planning policies

Family planning policies in China have included specific birth quotas, including three-child policy, two-child policy and one-child policy. China has harshly enforced such quotas.

One Child Policy

One-child policy was a population planning initiative in China. It was implemented in between 1980 and 2015 for curbing country’s growth by restricting families to a single child. This policy had a wide-ranging social, cultural, and economic effects. Its efficacy in reducing birth rates and defensibility from human rights perspective have raised several controversies.

Two Child Policy

Law on two child policy in China was passed on December 27, 2015. The policy remained in effect from 2016 to 2021. Under it, government-imposed limit to have two children per family.

Three-child policy

Under this policy, couple can have three children. This policy was announced on May 31, 2021 in China. This policy was implemented because, in 2020, the number of births in China was only 12 million, lowest since 1960.

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