China News Agency, Beijing, September 26th, question: Do you want to be born and dare not grow old?

China seeks solutions to 'growing pains'

　　China News Agency reporter Li Xiaoyu

　　31-year-old Jiang Tingting has been very busy recently: she has a son who is just 2 years old and wants to have another child, but she is worried that she will become "a person who only revolves around children and has no career"; her parents are in their 60s, needs her care.

　　In China, there are many families like Jiang Tingting.

In 2013, China gradually liberalized the birth of two children. In the past ten years, the annual birth population exceeded 17 million in 2016 and 2017, but declined for three consecutive years after 2018.

In 2021, China's birth population will be over 10.62 million.

　　There are many reasons for the decline in fertility willingness.

Compared with a decade ago, as education and income levels increase, society is more tolerant of marriage and childbearing choices.

Marriage and childbirth are closely related. In 2021, the number of marriage registrations in China will fall below the 8 million mark, the eighth consecutive year of decline.

On May 20, 2021, a couple of newlyweds took pictures outside the marriage registration office of the Civil Affairs Bureau of Haidian District, Beijing, holding a marriage certificate.

Photo by China News Agency reporter Tomita

　　The increase in parenting requirements has also caused people to "do not want to give birth" and "dare not to give birth".

Song Jian, deputy director of the Population and Development Research Center of Renmin University of China, said that with the increasing pressure of social competition, young parents have become more refined and have higher expectations for their children, which has increased the burden of parenting to a certain extent.

The burden of education is also relatively heavy. After-school tutoring, school selection fees, and school district housing have all increased the cost of childbirth.

　　While the number of births continues to decline, the size of China's elderly population is rapidly expanding.

According to the results of the seventh census, there are 260 million people aged 60 and above in China, of which 190 million are aged 65 and above, accounting for 13.5% of the total population.

In the ten years from 2010 to 2020, the proportion of China's population over the age of 60 increased by 5.44 percentage points.

An elderly man walks in Jingshan Park in Beijing on May 11, 2021.

Photo by China News Agency reporter Hou Yu

　　Aging is increasing, and some new problems are emerging at any time.

Liu Yan, head of a housekeeping service company in Shanxi, told reporters that, unlike in previous years, 8 of her 10 clients now seek nanny for the elderly over 70, but there are too few nanny who can properly take care of the elderly. If you introduce more than a dozen, you may not be able to find the right one.”

　　These troubles seem to be some kind of inevitability brought about by the rapid development of Chinese society in the past decade.

　　Cai Fang, former vice president of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, said that the decline in fertility rate, the decline in population growth rate, and the increase in the level of aging are the regular results of economic and social development, and are also a global trend in the 21st century.

However, whether compared with the world average or major countries, China's aging process is relatively fast, and it is "getting old before getting rich".

At present, China's per capita GDP has exceeded 10,000 US dollars, but it is still significantly lower than the average level of high-income countries.

　　In Cai Fang's view, the population problem facing China today is "a growing pain."

This is a mixed blessing for China's economy: on the one hand, the quality of the population is constantly improving, and the "demographic dividend" that has supported China's high-speed economic growth for decades is turning into a "talent dividend", which is conducive to the transformation of economic development mode and the upgrading of industrial structure; On the one hand, the slowdown in population growth will affect the growth of consumer demand, which in turn will restrict economic development, and the potential economic growth rate will also gradually decrease.

China needs to adopt reforms and policy adjustments in a timely manner to prevent the risk of economic growth deviating from a reasonable range due to demographic factors, and turn challenges into opportunities.

On June 21, 2022, in Nanjing, Jiangsu, graduates of Nanjing University of Aeronautics and Astronautics took the stage to receive their diplomas.

Photo by China News Agency reporter Yang Bo

　　Yuan Xin, a professor at the Institute of Population and Development at Nankai University, also said that childbirth and old-age care are both family and state affairs.

China should create better marriage and childbearing conditions for young people and a more comfortable retirement environment for the elderly.

This is not only about the happiness of millions of families, but also about the future of the country and the nation.

　　In this regard, the Chinese official clearly stated that population development is a major event related to the development of the Chinese nation. It requires deepening the research on fertility policy and population development trends, improving the population development strategy, and gradually improving the fertility policy according to the changing situation of China's population development.

　　Action has already begun.

In recent years, from advocating frugality in marriage, avoiding high-priced dowry gifts, and grand weddings, to liberalizing the birth of three children, abolishing social maintenance fees and other restrictive measures, and abolishing relevant penalties; By hyping up housing prices in the name of school district housing, promoting the connection between school hours and parents' get off work hours, and strictly regulating off-campus training, China is trying to make marriage, childbirth, parenting, and education, which were once worrisome, easier.

On July 31, 2022, in Taiyuan, Shanxi, parents and children painted tent graffiti together to enjoy the summer vacation time.

Photo by China News Agency reporter Wu Junjie

　　In the words of Ou Xiaoli, director of the Social Development Department of China's National Development and Reform Commission, the purpose of this package of support measures is to create a fertility-friendly society and promote long-term balanced population development.

　　Analysts believe that these reform measures are conducive to seizing the window of opportunity that has not been long, effectively reducing the cost of fertility and tapping the potential of fertility.

　　"When I don't have to worry about who will take care of the child after maternity leave, maybe I will consider having a second child. After all, having siblings is also very important to the child," Jiang Tingting said.

(Finish)