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| China-Japan-Koreas |
| China’s birth rate falls to lowest in 70 years |
| 2019-01-22 |
| [Asia Times] Number of babies born falls by 2 million, despite relaxed population controls. A seismic demographic shift that Chinese officials have warned is a “national crisis” came closer to fruition last year, with China’s birth rate falling to its lowest point since the People’s Republic of China was formed in 1949. According to China’s National Bureau of Statistics, the birth rate in 2018 was just shy of 11 per thousand, down from 12.43 per thousand the year prior. Two million fewer babies were born in 2018 than in 2017. This decline, which follows trends seen in other East Asian countries after decades of urbanization and development, comes despite efforts to encourage couples to have more children, including the relaxation in 2016 of population controls. Last July, a top political advisory body warned that China’s labor supply will fall by 100 million every 15 years after 2020, urging the government to enact more incentives for having children. Many couples who would like to have more than one child, surveys have found, say that they are not able to afford related expenses. |
| Posted by:3dc |