China to modernize its childbearing and marriage culture to fight population drop

Last year, China experienced its first population decline since the 1960s. Experts cited by NPR have called the problem "a sea change" for the country, which is now attempting to change the tide.

According to the National Bureau of Statistics of China data, the Chinese population decreased by 850,000 over the previous year. The country had a population of 1.411 billion at the end of 2022.

The aging population is also a problem. NPR said that government data showed that the country had more deaths than births in 2022: officials said 10.41 million people died, while 9.56 million were born.

According to the BBC, the decrease is not China's only concern: a surging Indian population threatens to push the country to second place in inhabitants number.

Stuart Gietel-Basten, a professor of social science at Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, told NPR that the shrinking population could threaten China's economic model.

"The era of rapid growth, double-digit growth, of cheap labor, of a younger labor force – that era is now really at a close," Gietel-Basten said on NPR's Morning Edition.

According to the BBC, the strict one-child policy that the Chinese government implemented from 1980 to 2015 was blamed for the demographic problem.

In 2015, the government extended the allowed number of children to two to fight a natality decrease. It did so again in 2021, allowing three children per family.

Yun Zhou, an assistant professor of sociology at the University of Michigan, also told NPR that all policies to address the issue have failed: "From my own research, what I've seen is women often resisted," he said.

Still, the Chinese government announced pilot projects in more than 20 cities to create a "new-era" marriage and childbearing culture, according to Reuters.

Chinese state-backed news outlet Global Times reported that the projects would promote marriage and childbearing, encourage parents to share responsibilities, and end some outdated practices.

According to the BBC, some provinces were already implementing measures to promote childbearing, including giving money to sperm donors and opening up policies to cover a broader range of people.

In many cases, this meant simply lifting bans for unmarried couples or single mothers and allowing them to receive the benefits of government programs.

For example, in Sichuan, single women were previously banned from registering a birth, and unmarried couples were not welcomed in state programs. In March 2023, the government gave single and unmarried women access to egg freezing and IVF treatment.

According to Reuters, many women have put off having children because of the expenses and fear of stopping their careers, "with gender discrimination still a key hurdle."

"There's really still a lot of levers that can be pulled in China," Stuart Gietel-Basten told NPR. Whether the new policies work, the Chinese economy may find new ways to thrive.