Given the aging population, China plans new measures to boost the birth rate over the next five years, state media reported on Monday.
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China will offer extensive financial support to couples who decide to have more children in the world, the China Daily reports.
“A more inclusive population policy will be implemented to improve fertility, the quality of the workforce and the structure of the population,” said the vice president of the China Population Association.
In 1978, China introduced the controversial one-child policy, believing that the fight against poverty and economic development was hampered by rapid population growth, especially in rural areas.
However, given the aging population and shrinking workforce, in 2016 China decided to ease the one-child policy and allow two children in the family. Several experts believe that the state should lift all restrictions.
At the end of last year, there were 254 million people in China who were 60 or older. Accordingly, they make up 18.1% of the total population and are expected to reach 300 million by 2025 and 400 million by 2035, putting enormous pressure on public health and social care systems.
Experts also predict that the working age population could shrink by 200 million by 2050.
Despite the easing of the one-child policy in 2016, the birth rate per 1,000 inhabitants dropped to 10.48 children last year, which is a record low. In 2018, this indicator was 10.94.
Policies aimed at suppressing population growth need to be replaced by a system aimed at boosting birth rates, citing government experts, according to the Legal Daily.
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