2024-01-03 16:03:33
Published3. January 2024, 5:03 p.m
Population is shrinking: Beijing wants more babies, but the Chinese are standing in the way
The one-child policy in China has been history for over eight years, and the country urgently needs more offspring. But the women don’t take part.
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Last year there were fewer than ten million births in China; in 2012 there were around 16 million.
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There are currently around 1.4 billion people in the country; according to a forecast by the University of Wisconsin–Madison, by 2100 there will be less than half a billion.
Wu Hanren – Imaginechina
Reason: Many people no longer want children.
AFP
Babies in China: That’s what it’s all about
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China urgently needs more children to rejuvenate itself – but many Chinese women don’t want that.
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“I think I have fulfilled my duty by having a child,” says one of the women.
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Now the authorities are trying to reduce the number of abortions.
Beijing announced in 2015 that it would abolish the one-child policy after 35 years. The Chinese government then called on Chinese women in the country to give birth to more babies again. But they are not taking part, as the Wall Street Journal writes. Now the Communist Party is in crisis because of this: the country urgently needs more children to rejuvenate itself – but women are standing in the way.
There is a lack of offspring
Last year there were fewer than ten million births in China; in 2012 there were around 16 million. There are currently around 1.4 billion people in the country; according to a forecast by the University of Wisconsin–Madison, by 2100 there will be less than half a billion. Reason: Many people no longer want children.
So does Feng Chenchen. She is the mother of a three-year-old girl and says: “I think that I have fulfilled my duty with a child.” Her acquaintances urge her to have more children; she tells them that she would like to bring another child into the world – but only if she receives 300,000 yuan (around 36,550 francs).
That’s how big the baby gap is
Demographers expect the number of births in China to fall to under nine million this year. For comparison: According to the United Nations, around 3.7 million babies were born in the USA in 2023 and 23 million in India. India will replace China as the world’s most populous country in 2023.
US general expects war between China and the USA
Air Force Gen. Mike Minihan has ordered his commanders to prepare for a conflict with China in the next few years. He expects the conflict to break out by 2025. You can read more about it here.
The average number of babies a woman has in her lifetime in China is currently around 1.09. Three years ago it was 1.30. According to the Wall Street Journal, in order to keep the population stable, the value would have to be 2.1.
Government lures with money
Beijing is now relying “more on encouragement than on coercion,” as with the one-child policy. Anyone who has a second or third child receives money from many local governments. A county in Zhejiang province gives a bonus of around 117 francs in cash to every couple who gets married before the age of 25.
Authorities have also tried to reduce the number of abortions, which was important during the one-child policy. They have fallen by more than a third, from over 14 million in 1991 to almost nine million in 2020. China has since stopped publishing data on abortions.
Beijing increases surveillance
A national debate about the treatment of women erupted in early 2022 when a video of a mother of eight began circulating. She wore a chain around her neck and was trapped in a shed. This sparked a shitstorm on social networks.
Now the government is controlling social media even more closely, says a woman who worked in a branch of the All-China Women’s Federation from 2020 to 2021. This agency is focused on preventing gender-related issues from going viral.
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