China is preparing new policies to increase its declining birth rate and manage its aging population, though one analyst cautions that additional measures may be necessary to avoid a demographic crisis, News.Az informs via Miami Herald.
Why It Matters
Despite a baby bump in 2024, widely attributed to the end of China's strict pandemic-era policies, births have been in steady decline for years. The country's fertility rate last year stood at just 1.0 births per woman, far below the replacement level of 2.1 needed to sustain population growth.
This downward trend has persisted despite the end of the One-Child Policy and a wave of pro-natal measures. At the same time, China is steadily moving toward what the United Nations (U.N.) classifies as a "super-aged" society. The working-age population (ages 14 to 64) is expected to shrink from 70 to 64 percent by 2040, posing a long-term drag on the world's second-largest economy.
What To Know
Documents submitted ahead of the annual session of China's rubber-stamp congress this week outline measures aimed at softening the impact of an aging population while encouraging younger couples to have more children.
One such measure includes a modest increase in minimum basic benefits for elderly people in rural areas and unemployed individuals in cities, Reuters reported this week. Another initiative seeks to expand services for people with disabilities in China's often-neglected rural regions. Premier Li Qiang also highlighted plans to "prudently advance the reform to gradually raise" the statutory retirement age, a change that officially began this year-marking the first adjustment in decades.
Policymakers are also proposing subsidies for early childcare and expanding services for women in the early stages of pregnancy, without giving more details, according to Reuters' report.
