Beijing: China allows three children per family

Status: May 31, 2021 11:37 a.m.

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A recent census showed a sharp drop in the birth rate in the world’s most populous country. The Communist Party in Beijing has now reacted with an “optimization of the birth policy”.

China has relaxed its strict two-child policy and allows couples to have three children in the future. This measure is intended to counteract an aging society, as reported by the official Xinhua news agency. An unexpectedly massive drop in the birth rate also prompted the Communist Party’s Politburo at a meeting in Beijing to make this decision.

The decision was made just three weeks after the latest census was published. Accordingly, the most populous country threatens to shrink in a few years. The reasons given by experts are the decades-long one-child policy, which was only lifted in 2015. The high cost of housing and education in China should also play a role in family planning.

The number of seniors over 65 is increasing

In addition, many Chinese have got used to having only one child, it said. In the past ten years, China’s population has only grown by 0.53 percent annually to 1.41 billion people – more slowly than it has been in decades. Statistically speaking, Chinese women have only 1.3 children. This is comparable to rapidly aging societies like Japan and Italy.

If the trend continues, the world’s second largest economy is likely to face irreversible population decline. The one-child policy in force since 1979 was repealed in 2015 and replaced by a two-child policy. However, the turnaround only led to a slight increase in births in 2016. The number has fallen every year since then. Experts therefore doubt that the three-child policy that has now been adopted will reverse this trend.