China: government tries to fix population issues by visiting families at home

What's happening in China or why officials are visiting the people

In China, officials have started visiting women's homes to determine if they plan to have children. The New York Times writes that this is against the country's declining population.

The authorities are not just going door to door to ask Chinese women about their plans. They are also on the phone with citizens to discuss the subject. Officials are working with universities to develop courses on 'positive attitudes towards marriage and childbirth'. Many women see this intrusive interest by the government as an invasion of privacy. Complaints include "they even called to ask the date of their last period."

A woman named Yumi Yang shared the story that even during the marriage registration process, they felt an intrusive interest in their family, with a civil servant giving them free prenatal vitamins (for pregnant and breastfeeding women). Later, the official called her to ask if Jan had taken them, and when the woman gave birth to her daughter, the same official appeared at her door and asked for permission to have her picture taken with the baby for the report^[1].

China's fertility policy: from one child to encouraging more

China has one of the lowest total fertility rates in the world (the average number of children a woman gives birth to in her lifetime), at around 1 in 2023 (compared to 1.62 in the US). This is the result of the "one family, one child" reproductive policy that the country has pursued since the late 1970s to limit fertility. Violations were punishable by a fine and a woman could even be forced to have an abortion.

In 2013, the authorities decided to relax the policy: families were allowed to have two children if one of the parents was an only child. In 2015, the Chinese Communist Party allowed all families to have two children. By 2021, Chinese families were allowed to have three children.

According to CNN, the government's decision has been met with skepticism among the public. Many women have taken to social media to express concern about the rising cost of living and entrenched gender inequality in the workplace. The absence of a national law on parental leave in China means that it is difficult for women to combine work and motherhood.

The demographic experiment has produced results. Chinese officials estimate that by 2007 this measure will increase the country's population by 400 million. The measure has reduced the total number of fertile women in China by reducing the number of births, which has helped reduce the number of women of childbearing age. The number of women between 15 and 49 years of childbearing age declined by 8 million annually between 2016 and 2021.

How Chinese people are now motivated to have children

For decades, government associations have promoted a one-child policy, but now they are promoting a "new fertility culture", the newspaper notes^[2].

"Some people believe that marriage and childbirth are everyone's personal affair. This attitude is wrong and one-sided," says a report by the Family Planning Association in Mudaziang, a city of about 2 million people.

According to The New York Times, themed sculptures (of a man and a woman with three children) have appeared in the city. Officials' bonuses are directly linked to how well they promote fertility culture. How this indicator is measured is not explained^[3].

Many cities offer free pre-marital medical check-ups: couples are screened for certain hereditary diseases and advised to have children before the age of 35. Several women said that shortly after the medical check-up, they received a phone call from officials advising them to take folic acid, a supplement for pregnant women. Pregnant women have to register at local medical centers, which local officials control.

The publication noted that many Chinese see such attention as a concern and say it is nice. Women also pointed to the government's efforts to encourage men to do more to help their spouses at home. Even those who found the officials' questions about child planning too intrusive said that it was easy to ignore them^[3].

Plans to reduce the number of abortions

There are also concerns that the authorities will gradually tighten the screws on this aspect and restrict women's choices more severely. In the summer of 2022, the National Health Commission announced plans to reduce the number of non-medical abortions and encourage women to give birth. The country now has one of the highest abortion rates in the world, partly because the 'one-child policy' has made the procedure easily accessible.

According to UN projections, China could lose up to half of its population by 2100, more than halving from 1.42 billion at the end of 2023 to around 600 million by the end of the century. At the end of last year, China's population stood at 1.409 billion people, 2.08 million fewer than in 2022, the second year in a row of decline.

Causes of declining fertility in China

Another reason for China's population growth slowdown is social factors. Many young couples in China do not want to have children because they cannot afford medical care, education, or expensive housing, Reuters noted in 2019^[4].

COVID-19 has made the situation worse. In 2022, a video went viral in China showing a young man who refused to be quarantined in a quarantine camp being warned by the police that the punishment for such an action would affect three generations of his family. He replied coldly: "Thank you, we are the last generation".

By 2023, the desire of young Chinese to have children had further declined: youth unemployment was high, wages had fallen in many areas, and the real estate sector was in crisis^[5].

In 2024, the Chinese authorities decided to raise the country's retirement age for the first time since 1978. The reform was necessary because life expectancy in China has risen to 78 years in 2021 (up from 44 years in 1960) and is expected to exceed 80 years by 2050. At the same time, there are fewer working people in the population.