'Marry & have children': How China plans to improve falling birth rate

China aims to bring in changes in its marriage and childbearing culture, and plans to launch related pilot projects in more than 20 cities. China’s Family Planning Association plans to promote marrying, having children at appropriate ages, encouraging parents to share responsibilities of the children and curbing high ‘bride prices’. 

According to state-backed Global Times, the association that is responsible for the government’s population and fertility measures, wants to encourage women to marry and have children to boost the country’s falling birth rate. 

As per the report, the association launched projects in 20 cities last year, including in Beijing, manufacturing hub Guangzhou and Handan. These projects come after the measures Chinese provinces are rolling out to encourage people to have children. These measures include tax incentives, housing subsidies, and free or subsidised education for having a third child. 

China that had a one-child policy from 1980 until 2015, has since raised the limit to three children. 

China’s population dropped for the first time in six decades. That along with rapid ageing led the government’s political advisers to propose the accessibility to egg freezing and IVF treatment as well as other services, to China’s single and unmarried women. 

Many women in the country have put off having children amid an increase in the expenses of childcare, as well as the impact of having children on women’s careers. 

INDIA AND CHINA’S POPULATION

China’s situation is in stark opposition to India’s situation. In April, United Nations said that India overtook China as the most populous nation. It also said that while India’s population is certain to grow for the next several decades, China’s population reached its peak and experienced a decline starting 2022. Before the end of the century, China’s population is expected to dip to below 1 billion. 

The UN stated that China and India had nearly identical levels of fertility in 1971. But China’s fertility rate fell sharply to fewer than 3 births per woman by end of 1970s, while India’s fall was far more gradual. It took India three and a half decades to experience the same fertility slowdown that occurred in China in the 1970s.

In 2022, China had one of the world’s lowest fertility rates at 1.2 births per woman, while India’s was at 2 births per woman. India’s population is expected to peak around 2064 and then decline gradually. 

Also read: India's population has overtaken China, but historic problems continue to plague the nation