China has the lowest fertility level in the world
According to foreign media reports on December 4, although China has fully liberalized the "two-child" policy, the decades-long family planning policy has borne fruit. For economic growth, the unfavorable demographic structure continues.
The lowest fertility rate in the world is a wake-up call
According to a report by the Russian Satellite Network on November 28, China's National Bureau of Statistics data shows that the total fertility rate in 2015 was only 1.05, which is twice lower than the necessary population replacement fertility rate. The People's Daily said this means that China's fertility level is the lowest in the world.
According to reports, China has sounded the alarm and looked for ways to improve the country's population situation. Otherwise, China will face difficult times. Traditionally, Chinese children have played an extremely important role in supporting the elderly, and if they are a child, they may experience the double burden of old age and caring for their own family. China's population peaked in 2011, and in 2012, there was a shortage of 3.45 million labor force for the first time in history. According to official projections, by 2035, the number of able-bodied people will shrink by 11%, while the number of retirees will increase by 14%.
According to Hong Kong's "Oriental Daily" website reported on November 28, the mainland population aging, labor force decline and other demographic changes gradually appeared, but experts predict that the implementation of the comprehensive two-child policy will delay the peak of China's total population size by about 3 years, appeared around 2028, reaching 1.45 billion people.
Wang Pei'an, deputy director of the National Health and Family Planning Commission, said that although the size of the working-age population in the mainland has declined, the number of economically active people and employed people has continued to grow, and the labor supply has not decreased. He pointed out that in the current and future period, China is in a deep transition period of population development, and it is necessary to focus on how to resolve the contradiction between the total population and the structure, how to maintain a moderate fertility level, how to create a fertility-friendly institutional environment, and promote the long-term balanced development of the population.
"Two-child policy" has little impact, young people pursue future
Mikhail Kloskikov, a reporter for the Russian newspaper Kommersant, pointed out that on January 1, 2016, China fully liberalized the "two-child" policy, but this measure had little impact on the number of births, while factors similar to those in developed countries had the opposite effect: young people pursue a future, children are expensive to educate, and they do not want to take responsibility for themselves.
China's demographic problem threatens economic planning, he said, and the decline in the number of young people actively consuming goods and services will create resistance to the policy of shifting from an "export-oriented economy" to a "domestic demand-oriented economy" proposed by Chinese leaders. Other restrictions on family planning can be expected to be lifted in China in the next few years, while the market for medical services in China will soar, which is important for both the growing retiree class and those who decide to have children.
He said that if the population decline is not controlled, then the main energy consumption will also decline, which will also have a negative impact on Russia's exports to China.
Unmarried women face fertility challenges
According to a report on the website of Deutsche Welle radio on November 28, single women in China are not only nicknamed "leftover women", but also have no right to have children. Although Beijing has fully liberalized the second child, the gay community who hope to have children through assisted reproductive technology still has nothing to do.
China's family planning commission rules that only married women can have children if they provide a marriage license and a birth permit. Activists say there is no other form of marriage because of the prevailing social tradition of accepting only a couple as a couple, one man and one woman. Activists also point out that premarital sex is still discriminated against in society, and that for many people, having children before marriage is a more sensitive topic.
Mikhail Kloskikov, a reporter for the Russian Satellite Network, said that currently, in most provinces in China, women who give birth out of wedlock have to pay varying fines. In addition, the issue of in vitro fertilization is not optimistic. If the man and woman are not married, it is almost impossible to do it in China. Therefore, they have to go to Thailand or the United States.
But for the less wealthy single woman, Ms Ma, the future remains grim. "I can't go to another country and I'm pretty sure I won't marry a man in the future because I'm gay and I don't have the chance to have a child of my own," she says.
