China’s population has dropped for the first time since 1961, with the nation experiencing a low record birth rate hitting 6.77 births per 1,000 women.
The population fell by 850,000 in 2021 as opposed to 1.4118 billion in 2022.
Over the years, China’s Birth rate has been declining which prompted a slew of policies to slow the trend.
Recall that China had earlier put up the ‘one-child policy’ in 1979 where families are to give birth to only one child.
However, seven years after scrapping the policy, China has entered into what the official described as an “era of negative population growth.”
China’s National Bureau of Statistics revealed that the birth rate in 2022 was also down from 7.52 percent in 2021.
Also, for the first time last year, deaths outnumbered births. China recorded its highest Death rate since 1976-7.37 deaths per 1,000 people, up from 7.18 the previous year.
Fall in birthrates affects the economy
The fall in birthrates has also been slowing down other developed economies in Asia such as South Korea and Japan.
This fall in the birth rate was largely shaped by the ‘one-child policy’ introduced to slow down birth and population growth.
Families that violated the rules were fined and sooner even lost their jobs.
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In addition to a culture that historically favors boys over girls, the policy had also led to forced abortions and a skewed gender ratio of boys from the 1980s.
Nevertheless, the policy was laid off in 2016 and married couples were permitted to have just two children.
Recently, the Chinese government also offered tax breaks and better maternal healthcare among other incentives to reverse or slow the falling birth rate.
Still, these policies did not lead to a sustained increase in births because experts said that policies that encouraged childbirth were not accompanied by efforts to ease the burden of childcare for mothers.
Furthermore, in October 2022, Chinese President Xi Jinping made boosting birth rates a priority.
He said in a once-in-five-year Communist Party Congress in Beijing that his government will “pursue a proactive national strategy” in response to the country’s aging population.
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