Faced with a shrinking population that threatens their economic growth, the Chinese government is responding with a time-tested tactic: inserting itself into this most intimate of choices for women, whether or not to have a child, reported New York Times.
From going door-to-door and partnering with various universities to develop courses, the authorities are spreading the message wherever they can. China has one of the lowest total fertility rates in the world, which is a measure of how many children a woman is anticipated to produce in her lifetime.
Why Chinese women don’t want to have babies
Of ten women NYT spoke to, seven said they had been asked by officials if they planned to have children. Many women felt that the government’s persistent nagging was antiquated and out of sync with their concerns. Most women said that the government’s constant prodding to have children failed to address concerns such as high cost of raising kids and balancing motherhood with their career goals.
“We’re not like people born in the 1970s or ’80s. Everyone knows that people born after the ’90s generally don’t want kids,” Ms. Yang told NYT. “Whether you want to have children is a very private issue.”
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What are authorities doing?
In Beijing’s Miyun district, local family planning officials have set up a 500-person propaganda team to promote the cause. According to the report, the team had spoken with almost half of Miyun’s “suitably aged” couples at least six times.Zhang Rongxing said that local officials had asked both over the phone and in person if she was planning on having another child.
“It’s too much work,” she said. “Mentally, financially, in terms of time.”
It also erected new artwork in a park: a life-size cutout of a man and woman walking with three children, under a message urging couples not to wait too long to have children.
Moreover, premarital health exams are free in many places, and during these, prospective parents are advised to have children before the age of 35 and are examined for inherited illnesses.
Many women said that shortly after completing the health exams, officials called to inform them that they were eligible to receive free prenatal supplements, such as folic acid.
China to hold nationwide survey on population changes
With rapid aging becoming a growing concerns for policymakers, China’s National Bureau of Statistics said it will conduct a nationwide sample survey from Thursday to “accurately” monitor population changes and better plan economic and social policies, as authorities struggle to boost a fall in births, reported Reuters.
Beijing is urgently trying a variety of measures to incentivise young couples to have children after China posted a second consecutive year of population decline in 2023.
Population development has often been linked to the strength and “rejuvenation” of China in state media, amid the declining birth rate and widespread concerns by citizens on the difficulties of raising children.
(With agency inputs)
