Chinese policymakers worried about declining birth rate (representative)
Beijing:
More babies will be born in hospitals across China in the Year of the Dragon, financial news outlet China Business News reported, an increase that could ease population decline in 2024 and bring cheer to policymakers.
China’s 12 animals in the Chinese zodiac are considered particularly auspicious, and hospital data during the Lunar New Year period, which began on February 10, showed a “significant” increase in the number of newborns, China Business News said.
The newspaper cited a hospital in Wuxi, eastern China, as reporting a 20% increase in births compared with a year ago, while a hospital in northwest Shaanxi province reported a 72% increase compared with 2023. %.
China’s marriage rate is closely linked to its birth rate because unmarried mothers are often denied child-rearing benefits, and last year the number of marriage registrations rose for the first time in several years due to a backlog caused by the epidemic.
Chinese policymakers are concerned about a declining birth rate due to a rapidly aging population, with President Xi Jinping saying last year that the country’s development requires “actively cultivating a new culture of marriage and childbirth.”
However, as growth slows in the world’s second-largest economy, many young people are choosing to stay single or delay marriage due to poor job prospects, record youth unemployment and a prolonged slump in consumer confidence.
Demographers say the “dragon baby” craze may not last long, as more women in traditional societies choose not to have children due to the high cost of childcare and a reluctance to get married or put their careers on hold. nursing staff and where sexism is still prevalent.
Xi Jinping said that women should give priority to telling “family tradition stories”. However, a study this week by a Beijing-based policy institute found that raising children leads to a reduction in women’s paid working hours and wages, while men’s livelihoods remain largely unchanged.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
