China plans incentives to boost population growth and address ageing society: reports

China reportedly considering financial and policy support in 2021-25 five-year plan to encourage couples to have more children

Policies to suppress population growth must be replaced by a system to boost fertility: Legal Daily

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The 2021-25 five-year plan is expected to introduce policies to address China’s unbalanced population, with an increasingly greying demographic and an overburdened workforce, reports China Daily. Photo: Xinhua

Published: 1:12pm, 23 Nov 2020Updated: 2:10pm, 23 Nov 2020

China is planning to include new measures to encourage more births and address its rapidly ageing population as part of its new 2021-25 “five-year plan”, state media reported on Monday.

China will offer extensive financial and policy support to encourage couples to have more children, the official China Daily cited experts as saying.

“More inclusive population policies will be introduced to improve fertility, the quality of the workforce and the structure of the population,” said Yuan Xin, vice-president of the China Population Association.

China introduced a controversial “one-child policy” in 1978, saying efforts to reduce poverty and develop the economy were being undermined by rapid population growth, especially in rural areas.

But the world’s most populous nation decided in 2016 to relax restrictions and allow couples to have a second child in a bid to address the rapid increase in the elderly population as well as a dwindling workforce. Some experts say it should now scrap all limits entirely.

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