China on Saturday announced measures to simplify the marriage registration process and lessen the financial burden on couples, the latest initiative by Beijing to boost births. Couples having children outside of marriage is rare in China, where there is social stigma and fewer protections for such families. Measures have already been taken to tackle the…
CHINA’S PENSIONS are underfunded and its population is getting older. So the government’s recent decision to raise the retirement age for state pensions seemed overdue. But it may create other problems, most notably in the field of child care. And these challenges may lead young people to have fewer babies, exacerbating the country’s demographic crisis….
Mother-of-two Ding Ding*, 30, wishes she could live a life just like so many other young women her age, instead of having her entire world revolve around her family. She gave up her job as a salesperson in her early twenties after giving birth to her son and daughter, now aged six and seven. Ding…
Earl Gibson III / Shutterstock / Earl Gibson III / Shutterstock Vice President Kamala Harris recently dropped a bombshell that has parents everywhere perking up their ears: a plan to cap child-care costs at 7% of a family’s income. Sounds like a dream, right? But as with anything in politics, there’s more to this story…