What’s New China is ramping up efforts to counter its plummeting birth rate, with measures ranging from cash incentives to controversial local campaigns urging women to have children. Last year marked the seventh consecutive year of declining births, despite the relaxation of China’s one-child policy to allow two children in 2016 and three in 2021….
What’s New Shanghai has introduced policies encouraging employers to create “childbirth-friendly” positions aimed at supporting people with young children amid mounting concerns over China’s declining birth rate. Why It Matters Despite extensive measures by central and local governments, including the relaxation of the decades-long one-child policy to allow two and later three children, China’s fertility…
Hong Kong’s public secondary schools can breathe a sigh of relief for survival with a net increase of 10 Form One classes recorded this academic year, thanks to a baby boom in the Year of the Dragon in 2012 and an influx of children whose parents arrived from mainland China under talent schemes. But the…
China is expected to lose over 50 million people in the next decade as its population decline accelerates, according to a new analysis. By 2025, China’s population is projected to drop from its 2021 peak of 1.41 billion to 1.36 billion, Ada Li, a senior industry analyst at Bloomberg Intelligence, said in a forecast based…
China’s government is pursuing a misguided and perhaps futile course in its efforts to raise the country’s fertility rate, one of the world’s lowest, analysts say. China ended its one-child policy in 2016, increasing the cap to two children and then to three in 2021. But these and other measures at both national and local…
Recently released Chinese government statistics show marriages continue to decline, with only 4.75 million couples registering in the third quarter. Chinese policymakers are urgently trying to address a plummeting birth rate, fearing that the rapidly aging workforce and burden on social safety nets will drag on the world’s second-largest economy. Despite various initiatives, including financial…
A city in southern China has launched bold initiatives and slogans to encourage marriage and boost birth rates, igniting widespread controversy. In October, Changsha, the capital of Hunan province, unveiled the country’s first “marriage-themed” cultural street. The historic street showcases both Chinese and Western wedding scenes, providing visitors with plenty of photo opportunities. However, what…
Local governments in China have begun contacting women of childbearing age as part of efforts to reverse the country’s flagging birth rate. In a now-deleted report published Monday by Hong Kong’s South China Morning Post, a woman from Fujian province surnamed Huang, 35, recounted how surprised she was to answer a phone call from a…
China has issued guidelines to encourage elderly people to volunteer in community services and help underdeveloped areas as the country grapples with a rapidly ageing population and shrinking workforce. The National Committee on Ageing has released a set of guidelines for the Silver Age Action initiative, introduced two decades ago to promote volunteer work by…