Letters | Why China’s new three-child policy will struggle to be born

Name: China expands two-child policy to three
Uploaded: 2021-06-01T22:20:14.000Z
Duration: 2 min 4 s
Description: China expands two-child policy to three

The experience of countries such as Japan and South Korea shows that China has an uphill battle on its hands, as economic policies can only provide limited motivation and have little impact on fertility or ageing

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Nurses check and feed a baby at a hospital in north China’s Hebei province in May 2019. Chinese mothers gave birth to 12 million babies last year, down from 14.65 million in 2019. Photo: Xinhua

Letters

Published: 6:20am, 2 Jun 2021Updated: 6:20am, 2 Jun 2021

China’s government in recent years has considered different policies and initiatives to tackle the problem of its ageing population, including the latest, allowing couples to have up to three children. However, there are some gaps and limitations in their implementation.

The measures to encourage people to have children are mostly based on economic incentives, such as tax reduction and tuition allowances, but these measures are not attractive to couples nowadays. Given the high cost of living, some Chinese netizens even ironically commented that the continuously surging property prices are the best contraceptives.

The economies of first- and second-tier cities on the mainland are booming, but the cost of living is also extremely high. Most young couples cannot buy a home, so they live in small rented flats. Tax reduction and tuition subsidies are meant to offset the cost of raising children, but pale in comparison to other expenses. Therefore, many couples choose not to have children, opting instead to use the resources they would have spent on children to improve the quality of their own lives.

Moreover, since China’s reform and opening up, people’s attitudes to the traditional family structure have changed to some extent. The younger generation is not as interested in continuing the bloodline and family name. Pro-childbirth policies are unlikely to make them change their minds. Double-income-no-kids families or “Dink plus pet” families are replacing the extended traditional families, reflecting a shift from collectivism to individualism.

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China expands two-child policy to three

Moreover, as retirement protection becomes more sophisticated, the idea of children serving as support in old age is waning.