China population: rural families unwilling, unable to have more children faced with ‘life of inferiority’
- In the past, a higher fertility rate in rural areas compensated for a low rate in China’s cities, but demographers say that is no longer the case
- The cost of living, including education and housing, are putting a new generation of rural migrant workers off having kids
When Liang Du was born in a remote mountain village in Jiangxi province in 1979, he was the seventh child in the family and the only boy. At the time, the more children – and especially the more sons – a rural family had, the more blessings it was thought they would receive.
Fast forward four decades, and the attitude in China about having children has changed drastically.
Liang’s nine adult nephews have all left for cities or bigger urban areas, either because of education or marriage, but because the cost of raising a child is so much higher today, all have opted for much smaller families.
Four of his nine nephews have two children, while the rest have only one.
Most young people in the countryside were left-behind by their parents, and they don’t want their children to suffer the same experience
“Today, the cost of marriage and childbirth is much higher than the average income of young people, whether in the countryside or urban areas,” said Liang, who has six older sisters who supported him at university and even helped him to buy a flat.
“If families want to have more children, they must find work out of their rural hometown and leave the children there. But most young people in the countryside were left-behind by their parents, and they don’t want their children to suffer the same experience,” added Liang, referring to left-behind children in China who remain in rural regions while their parents leave to work in urban areas.