In historic turning point in policy, China allows three children per family

Chinto authorize up to three children per family, remove the limit of two, in the hope of boosting the birth rate in the most populous country in the world.

Three weeks after the results of his last census, which revealed a sudden deceleration population growth, China has decided to liberalize its family policy, but a limit of no more than three children per couple.

“In response to aging of the population (…), couples will be allowed to have three children, ”the state news agency reported, citing the conclusions of a meeting of the Communist Party’s political bureau headed by President Xi Jinping.

This policy must be accompanied by “support measures” for families, added the official news agency without further details.

In early May, the results of the 2020 census revealed an aging faster than expected of the Chinese population.

Decrease in the number of births

In 2020, marked by the covid-19 epidemic, the number of births fell to 12 million, against 14.65 million in 2019, when the birth rate (10.48 per 1,000 inhabitants) was already one of the lowest since the founding of Communist China in 1949.

In the late 1970s, Chinese leaders discovered to their amazement that the population was approaching 1,000 million inhabitants, almost double that of 1949.

The one-child policy

In response, the strong man of the then regime, Deng Xiaoping, imposes the “one-child policy”, with heavy fines for offenders, but with relief for ethnic minorities or peasant families when they have their first child It was a girl.

After more than three decades of “one child policy”, much criticized at the time – for its forced abortions and sterilizations– China relaxed its rules in 2016, allowing all Chinese to have a second child.

But this new policy was not enough to reactivate the plummeting birth rate for several reasons.

These reasons include declining marriages, rising costs of housing and education, late fertility women who prioritize their professional careers, excessive number of men compared to women with women because of the traditional preference for male children.

At the other end of the age pyramid, China had over 264 million people. over 60 years Last year.

The over-60s group now constitutes 18.7% of the total population, an increase of 5.44 points percentages from the 2010 census.

On the contrary, the population of working age (15 to 59) does not represent more than 63.35% of the total, 6.79 points less than 10 years ago.

In March, Parliament voted on a plan to Gradually increases retirement age for the next five years, much to the chagrin of much of the population. Details of this policy were not disclosed.

Demographers have warned of the risk of an evolution towards Japanese or South Korea, with a decline in the population and an excess of the elderly relative to the young and economically active population.

Meanwhile, population growth has slowed considerably.

1411 million inhabitants

According to the last census, the most populous country in the world officially had 1,411 millions population at the end of 2020.

Compared to the previous census in 2010, the population only increased by 5.38% (an average of 0.53% per year), the growth rate lowest since the 1960s.

At this rate, China could be dispossessed faster than expected for India of its title of first world population: the great neighbor of the South would have 1380 million inhabitants in 2020, according to United Nations estimates.

Until now, China has predicted that its population growth curve will peak in 2027, when India overtakes it. The Chinese population would then begin to decline to 1.32 billion in 2050.

In recent years, voices have been raised for abolish all limits the number of children per family, but the Communist regime refused to lift all control in this area.

AFP

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