China sees low birth rates despite 1-child policy lift

BEIJING (AA): China faced a significant drop in births last year despite the lifting of its one-child policy in 2016, official data showed Monday. The National Bureau of Statistics published the population growth rate for 2018. Data showed that population growth, birth rate and labour participation rate slowed as the elderly population rose.

According to Bureau’s data, there were 15.23 million live births in 2018, a drop of 2 million from the previous year. China’s total population rose by 5.3 million in 2018 to 1.3 billion while it retained the title of the world’s most populous nation and the second biggest economy. The birth rate decreased from 12.43 per thousand to 10.94 per thousand, compared to the previous year. The number of live births in 2018 was the lowest since 1961.

The working population decreased from 937 million to 897 million from 2012 to 2018. In the same period, the population aged 60 and above rose by 55 million to 249 million The elderly make up 17.9 percent of the total population. One out of every five Chinese is above the age of 60. The Chinese Academy of Social Sciences has predicted in a recently published report that the population will reach 1.42 billion in 2029 and 1.45 billion in 2030. In the subsequent years, the population is expected to decrease to 1.3 billion in 2050 and to 1.2 billion in 2065.

According to another report released in 2017 by the country’s State Council , it is expected that people aged 60 or above will comprise 25 percent of the total population in 2030 reaching 362 million. Allowing people to have two children was not successful partly due to low incomes and high cost of living. At the founding of the People’s Republic of China in 1949, the country’s population was 541 million and on average families had four to five children. The Chinese government introduced family planning in the 70s to balance economic development and population growth. In those days, the slogan of “One is good, two is okay, three is too many’’ was popular. The National People’s Congress ended the 30-year one-child policy in January 2016 allowing couples to have a second child.