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With a population of 1.4 billion, China is grappling with a national emergency due to a low birth rate and is struggling to find solutions.
According to the National Bureau of Statistics of China, the total population of mainland China decreased from 1.4118 billion at the beginning of this year to 1.4970 billion, a decrease of 2.08 million people.
In 2022, China recorded 9.56 million newborns, going under the 10 million mark for the first time. The population decreased for the first time in 61 years since the founding of the People’s Republic of China (1949) as the number of deaths exceeded the number of births, marking a “dead cross.” China also lost its position as the country with the largest population in India. The total fertility rate last year is estimated to have barely reached 1.0. Recently, the Shanghai Academy of Social Sciences made a shocking prediction that China’s population, which was 1.4967 billion last year, will decrease to 525 million by 2100.
The aging of the population has progressed rapidly. As of the end of 2023, China’s population aged 60 and over was 296.97 million, accounting for 21.1% of the total population, and the population aged 65 and over was 216.76 million, accounting for 15.4%. Concerns have been raised that the current low birth rate and aging could hinder China’s growth and become a severe social problem. Chinese authorities have been making efforts to counter the low birth rate by abolishing the one-child policy that lasted for decades in 2017 and encouraging the birth of up to three children.
At the Lianghui (National People’s Congress and Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference), where China’s national policy is determined, there was also a proposal to lower the marriageable age to “18 years old.”
According to China’s largest portal, Sina.com, and others on the 6th, Marvin Hung, a National People’s Political Consultative Conference member and a youth start-up mentor, suggested shortening China’s compulsory education, which is currently 12 years, to 9 years.
Hung suggested, “Let’s shorten elementary school from 6 to 5 years, middle school from 3 to 2 years, and high school from 3 to 2 years, each by one year.” In this case, children would enter elementary school at age 6 and graduate from high school at age 15, which means they could enter society quickly even if they graduate from college at age 19.
Hung predicted that “(Such reform) will help young people’s career choices, marriage, childbirth, etc.”
A professor at Sichuan University Huashi Hospital and a member of the Political Consultative Conference suggested lowering the legal marriageable age in China to 18 for both men and women. He said, “We need to deal with the realistic problem of low birth rate.”
Currently, in China, men can legally marry at 22 and women at 20.
He also emphasized, “We need to quickly promote policies such as extending women’s paid maternity leave to 2 years, reducing infertility treatment costs, and easing the burden of child-rearing costs.”
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