China News Service, Beijing, February 16 (Reporter Kan Feng) Du Peng, vice president of the Chinese Population Association and vice president of Renmin University of China, said in an exclusive interview with China News Agency "China Focus Face-to-face" that in the next ten years, China's population will age. Globalization will show an accelerating trend, and to deal with the "fewer birth rate and aging population", we must pay attention to and promote the increase or stabilization of the fertility rate strategically.
According to data released by the National Bureau of Statistics, by the end of 2022, China's population aged 60 and over will reach 280 million, accounting for 19.8% of the total population, of which the population aged 65 and over will reach 200 million, accounting for 14.9% of the total population.
At the same time, by the end of 2022, the national population has decreased by 850,000 compared with the end of the previous year. This is the first negative population growth in China in the past 61 years.
When "fewer birthrates and aging" become the norm, and the population structure "decreases and increases", what preparations should China make?
Du Peng said that as early as 2006, the national level had proposed to actively respond to population aging, and since then it has raised the response to population aging as a national strategy. The "National Strategy on Population Aging" is deployed in the part of promoting the construction of a healthy China.
"From a practical point of view, in recent years, we have been constantly exploring and solving the problem of 'one old and one young', such as continuously improving the childbirth policy, exploring inclusive childcare, promoting education fairness, etc., alleviating the burden of young people on choosing schools for their children, extracurricular tutoring, etc. anxiety or parenting costs.”
In addition, Du Peng believes that the role of pension measures is also closely related to the increase in fertility.
"The first child in the family is generally taken care of by the elderly. If the second child is also taken care of by the elderly, the elderly will have 8-10 years to take care of the children for their children. This poses a new challenge: whether the elderly are willing to help Children are responsible for the upbringing.”
Du Peng said that, like pensions, many social security issues will be involved here, such as how to promote the cohabitation of the elderly and their children, how to give preferential treatment to young people in terms of taxation and other aspects, how to solve the problem of medical insurance for the elderly in different places, etc. The country has been working on these aspects. Continuously improve relevant measures.
Many countries in the world have already explored how to deal with "lower birth rate and aging population". What experience can China gain from other countries?
"In recent years, we have also learned from some countries' relevant measures to encourage births. But, generally speaking, what we need to do is to pay attention to and promote the increase or stability of the fertility rate from a strategic point of view. The second is to implement comprehensive policies. We should not only focus on one aspect; the third is to learn from others. The good experiences of different countries should be combined with their own national conditions for reference. In the final analysis, China still has to blaze its own path." Du Peng said.
(over)