China demographic crisis: One child policy backfires; rising living costs lead to population decline

Beijing [China], April 7 : China's demographic crisis continues to deepen as the country's population planning initiative 'One Child Policy', which earlier forced families to have one child under its umbrella has now severely backfired, leading to a population decline.

Moreover, the current generation does not want to raise children as many are trying to stay single due to rising living costs and difficulties in raising families, uncertainties in employment, Portal Plus quoted Xiujian Peng, a senior research fellow at the Centre of Policy Studies as saying.

Even Hong Kong, a major hub for international finance, is rapidly losing its population.

According to Portal Plus, these cities appear to be following the national trend, which sees a decline in the birth rate and an increase in the share of the elderly population.

Xi Jinping's strict zero covid policy is another major reason for women to delay or give up having babies.

The number of senior individuals is rising in China despite the declining birth rate. By 2035, China is projected to have an ageing population of 400 million or 30 per cent of the entire nation's population.

According to Claire Jiang, a media professional, the social media trend "we are the last generation" which was started in response to Chinese authorities' threats to punish a person's family for three generations if they disobeyed Covid regulations, is what ignited the people in China to decide not to have children and stay single, reported Portal Plus.

The unpredictability of living in a nation where the government may simply show up at your house and do anything it wants is something I don't want my children to have to deal with, Jiang said.

China's birthrate has been in decline since 2017, despite easing the 'one-child policy' to avert an incoming demographic crisis.

Earlier, in August, Chinese authorities issued a guideline introducing a raft of prenatal and postnatal support policies to promote balanced long-term population development.

These measures include better maternal care services, public-benefit childcare services, and improved maternity and parental leave policies, according to the National Health Commission's guideline on Tuesday.

The Chinese state media said the newly released guideline said local governments may explore ways to expand the coverage of maternity insurance to include workers in flexible employment.

In 2021, Beijing issued a new Population and Family Planning Law which allows Chinese couples to have three children, ostensibly responding to couples' unwillingness to have additional children due to rising costs.