China population: society must accept new norm of low births to better respond to demographic crisis, professor says

Fudan University professor, Shen Ke, said China needs to lower expectations for the recovery of its fertility rate and the immediate effect of policies

Last year, Chinese mothers gave birth to just 9.56 million babies as the overall population fell for the first time in six decades

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Last year, Chinese mothers gave birth to just 9.56 million babies. Photo: Xinhua

Published: 10:00am, 22 Jul 2023

Chinese society should adjust to the new norm of plunging birth rates and understand that pronatalist policies could take time and exploration to take effect, according to a Fudan University professor, amid ongoing discussions over the national demographic crisis.

“We may need to properly lower the expectation of the fertility rate recovery and the immediate effect of the fertility policies, and gradually adapt to and accept the new norm of low births, so that we can respond to the new demographic era with better systems and policies,” said Shen Ke during a symposium held earlier this month by the Shanghai Population Association and Shanghai Family Planning Association.

According to Shen, the percentage of one-person households in China surged to nearly 25 per cent in 2020, up from 6.3 per cent in the 90s, with widowhood before the millennium being replaced by singlehood in 2005 as the main cause.

“To an extent, that reflected the delay of marriages in China,” she added after the number of marriages in China plunged to the lowest recorded level since the late 1970s last year.

The number of new births in China have been falling for decades, and last year deaths outnumbered births for the first time in six decades, with the overall population falling by 850,000 to 1.4118 billion.