On Monday, China announced married Chinese couples can have three children. After a long break China has ended two-child policy. It comes just three weeks after Beijing published its 2020 census, which showed China’s population was growing at its slowest rate in decades.
China’s economy has resonated in recent years and its demographic needs have changed. Today, the government is relying on a large, youthful work force to support high levels of economic growth.
According to the National Bureau of Statistics, there were officially 12 million babies born in 2020, 2.65 million fewer than were born in 2019, an 18% fall. China’s fertility rate stands at 1.3 below the level needed to maintain a stable population.
The policy change will come with “ supportive measures”, which will be conductive improving our country’s strategy of actively coping with an ageing population”, the official Xinhua news agency said following politburo meeting chaired by a president Xi Jinping.
Among those measures, China will lower educational costs for families, step up tax and housing support, guarantee the legal interest of working women and clamp down on “sky-high” dowries, it said, without giving specifics. It would also look to educate young people “on marriage and love”.
The Chinese government has also discussed raising the retirement age in an attempt to deal with its aging workforce. Currently men retire at 60, while women can stop working at 55 for white collar employees
