© Associated Press
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For decades, the Chinese have been banned from having more than one child. In 2015, a second was allowed, and now even a third. However, most Chinese do not have the opportunity to raise three children. Yuan Dang explains why for Deutsche Welle.
Families in China will now be allowed to have up to three children. “Optimizing birth control” aims to improve the country’s demographic structure, according to a decision by the Chinese Communist Party’s Politburo, quoted by Xinhua.
It was taken just three weeks after the results of the last census were announced. It is clear that in just a few years the population of the world’s largest country may begin to melt.
Having a child in China is a very expensive pleasure
Chinese women give birth to an average of 1.3 children – this level is actually typical of aging industrial nations such as Japan or Italy. Those couples in China who are now parents almost without exception have no siblings. And they are in a particularly difficult situation on a demographic “sandwich”: they are obliged to take care of their parents, but also their own children.
In 1979, China introduced strict birth control, which became known as “one-child policy.” In 2015, the country allowed couples two children, but the expected boom in births never came. It turned out that the population was still not growing. Here that now three children are allowed and even desirable.
The increase in the birth rate fails mainly due to one decisive factor: the lack of money. Childbirth is free, but raising children in China is not cheap at all. The huge scandal with poison milk powder for babies, which broke out years ago, damaged the trust of parents and made them look for and buy only Western products, which are significantly more expensive. In addition, rents in major Chinese cities, which offer good infrastructure and proximity to schools, have meanwhile skyrocketed. And those who want to provide their children with additional lessons or activities in music and sports need a lot of money.
With huge financial resources, China is currently preparing to optimize its social security systems. In many cases, however, government support instruments are limited in scope, leaving families still under pressure. And the active members of society who work and pay social security contributions are doubly burdened – to provide social security, and now to raise even more children.
There are other reasons for stagnant birth rates. Confucianism views the family as a community of several generations living together under one roof. In today’s China, however, a self-confident middle class has emerged that increasingly shares individualistic conceptions of life. She strives for more personal freedom, free time and life without great restrictions. And parental responsibilities are an obstacle to the realization of these notions of personal development.
There will be no baby boom
To counter these trends, Beijing is now adopting a whole package of measures: tax breaks for families, better protection for mothers in the professional sphere, so that maternity leave does not become a barrier to career development. It is also planned to equalize the educational standards and opportunities for the children from the village and the city. Thus, China hopes to stimulate the birth rate and secure its future.
And how is the huge financial package financed? Here the Politburo gets lost in common talk and refers to the responsibility of local authorities. However, communal policy in China is heavily indebted, so it may turn out that the new measures are nothing but empty symbols. And the Chinese beds are unlikely to change significantly.
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