China considers new actions to raise fall in birth rate

BEIJING – China is considering additional measures to increase its falling birthrate, more than four years after ending its controversial one-child policy.

For decades, China has imposed strict controls on additional births in the name of preserving scarce resources for its expanding economy. But its drop in the birth rate is now seen as a major threat to economic progress and social stability.

On Thursday, the National Health Commission issued a statement saying it would conduct research to “further stimulate birth potential”

The report said the initiative will focus first on northeastern China, the country’s former industrial center that has seen a huge population decline as young people and families leave in search of better opportunities elsewhere. The region comprising the three provinces of Liaoning, Jilin and Heilongjiang has seen its total population decrease for the seventh consecutive year by 427,300 in 2019 compared to 2018.

Officials said last week that new births registered fell 15.3% last year to just 10 million.

China abandoned its one-child policy in 2016 to allow families to have one more child. However, the change had only a temporary effect on the birth rate, with many couples citing the high cost of raising children and other economic and social barriers to deciding to have no more children.

Experts call for further reforms due to economic concerns and the problem of an aging population.

China had a population of 1.34 billion in 2010, with an annual growth rate of 0.57%, up from 1.07% a decade earlier, data from the statistics bureau show. The last census was conducted in the second half of last year and the results have not yet been released.

A UN report says India is expected to overtake China as the most populous country in the world by 2027.

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This story has been corrected to show that the authorities announced the new birth numbers last week, not this week.