China needs stronger family-centred policies to stimulate births: Expert | World News

China Incentives for people to start families and increase the birth rate should be strengthened, as the country’s now declining population could threaten the world’s second largest economy, Chinese family say planning experts.

mainland Chinese population The government said last month that the number of people fell by 850,000 to 1.42 billion last year, the first decline since 1961 and likely behind the world’s largest India, in a long-term decline that could have far-reaching consequences for its economy and the world. start.

Wang Pei’an, deputy director of the China Family Planning Association, said on Saturday that more tax incentives should be formulated on a family basis to encourage childbearing.

Read it here: Is China’s population decline a blessing or a curse?what the experts say

Speaking at the third China and Development Forum in Beijing, Wang pointed out that the younger generation is increasingly inclined to be sterile. He called for more incentives in employment, health care, social security and housing to encourage people to start families.

The government imposed a one-child policy on families across much of the country between 1980 and 2015, but authorities are trying to boost the birth rate as the population dwindles.

In calling for more support, health officials cited factors such as concerns about spending and young women focusing on their careers.

According to a survey cited by China Central Television, the average family size in China has decreased to 2.62 in 2020, a decrease of 0.48 from 2010.

A 2021 survey found that women born in the 1990s thought the ideal number of children was 1.54, while women born in the 2000s thought the ideal number of children was only 1.19. The percentage of women who have never given birth has soared from 6.1 percent in 2015 to nearly 10 percent in 2020.

“In China, the level of maternity protection is still very low,” Wang said, adding that it would be difficult to raise the level of fertility without efforts to foster the need for marriage and childbearing.

According to a CCTV report, the average age of women at first marriage has risen from 22 in the 1980s to 26.3 in 2020, and the age of first childbirth has been postponed to 27.2.

Read it here: Covid outbreak has infected 80% of China’s population: report

Wang pointed to a 2021 survey by the China Population and Development Research Center showing that less than 70 percent of women under the age of 35 believe that life is complete only when they have children.