Xi Jinping
China easing birth limits further to cope with aging society
China’s ruling Communist Party said Monday it will ease birth limits to allow all couples to have three children instead of two in hopes of slowing the rapid aging of its population, which is adding to strains on the economy and society.
The ruling party has enforced birth limits since 1980 to restrain population growth but worries the number of working-age people is falling too fast while the share over age 65 is rising. That threatens to disrupt its ambitions to transform China into a prosperous consumer society and global technology leader.
A ruling party meeting led by President Xi Jinping decided to introduce “measures to actively deal with the aging population,” the official Xinhua News Agency said. It said they agreed that ”implementing the policy of one couple can have three children and supporting measures are conducive to improving China’s population structure.”
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Leaders also agreed China needs to raise its retirement age to keep more people in the workforce and improve pension and health services, Xinhua said.
Restrictions that limited most couples to one child were eased in 2015 to allow two, but the total number of births fell further, suggesting rule changes on their own have had little impact on the trend.
Couples say they are put off by high costs of raising a child, disruption to their jobs and the need to look after elderly parents.
China, along with Thailand and some other Asian economies, face what economists call the challenge of whether they can get rich before they get old.
The Chinese population of 1.4 billion already was expected to peak later this decade and start to decline. Census data released May 11 suggest that is happening faster than expected, adding to burdens on underfunded pension and health systems and cutting the number of future workers available to support a growing retiree group.
The share of working-age people 15 to 59 in the population fell to 63.3% last year from 70.1% a decade earlier. The group aged 65 and older grew to 13.5% from 8.9%.
The 12 million births reported last year was down nearly one-fifth from 2019.
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About 40% were second children, down from 50% in 2017, according to Ning Jizhe, a statistics official who announced the data on May 11.
Chinese researchers and the labor ministry say the share of working-age people might fall to half the population by 2050. That increases the “dependency ratio,” or the number of retirees who rely on each worker to generate income for pension funds and to pay taxes for health and other public services.
Leaders at Monday’s meeting agreed it is “necessary to steadily implement the gradual postponement of the legal retirement age,” Xinhua said.
It gave no details, but the government has been debating raising the official retirement ages of 60 for men, 55 for white-collar female workers and 50 for blue-collar female workers.
The potential change is politically fraught. Female professionals welcome a chance to stay in satisfying careers, but others whose bodies are worn out from decades of manual labor resent being required to work longer.
The fertility rate, or the average number of births per mother, stood at 1.3 in 2020, well below the 2.1 that would maintain the size of the population.
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China’s birth rate, paralleling trends in other Asian economies, already was falling before the one-child rule. The average number of children per Chinese mother tumbled from above six in the 1960s to below three by 1980, according to the World Bank.
Demographers say official birth limits concealed what would have been a further fall in the number of children per family without the restrictions.
The ruling party says it prevented as many as 400 million potential births, averting shortages of food and water. But demographers say if China followed trends in Thailand, parts of India and other countries, the number of additional babies might have been as low as a few million.
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Chinese President Xi Jinping made the proposal at the Global Health Summit on Friday.
He said China will provide an additional US$3 billion in international aid over the next three years to support COVID-19 response and economic and social recovery in other developing countries.
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Having already supplied 300 million doses of vaccines to the world, President Xi said, China will provide still more doses to the best of its ability.
He mentioned that China supports its vaccine companies in transferring technologies to other developing countries and carrying out joint production with them.
Having announced support for waiving intellectual property rights on COVID-19 vaccines, China also supports the World Trade Organization and other international institutions in making an early decision on this matter, President Xi said.
Beijing to work with Dhaka to explore more from strategic partnership
Chinese President Xi Jinping has said he is willing to work with Bangladesh to further connect their development strategies, deepen practical cooperation across the board, and strive for new outcomes from the Bangladesh-China Strategic Partnership of Cooperation.
“China and Bangladesh are close neighbours and traditional friends. In recent years, China-Bangladesh relations enjoy a sound momentum of development, with strategic mutual trust being strengthened and cooperation under the Belt and Road Initiative pressing ahead,” he said in a message to his Bangladesh counterpart Abdul Hamid.
On the occasion of the 50th anniversary of the independence of Bangladesh, the Chinese President, on behalf of the government and people of China and in his own name, extended his sincere congratulations and best wishes to President Hamid and the friendly people of Bangladesh.
Over the past five decades, President Xi said, the diligent and self-reliant people of Bangladesh have made remarkable progress in social and economic development, which has improved the living standard in the country, contributing an important share to the cause of global poverty elimination.
“Our traditional friendship has been elevated to a new height in our joint efforts to fight COVID-19,” said the Chinese President.
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“I wish Bangladesh great prosperity and her people happiness,” reads the message shared by the Chinese Embassy in Dhaka on Thursday night.
In a separate message to Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, Chinese Premier Li Keqiang said Bangladesh-China relations are on a fast lane of development, with cooperation in all areas proceeding steadily.
Facing the Covid-19 pandemic, he said, the two countries have been on the same boat and lent each other helping hands, further deepening the traditional friendship.
“The Chinese side sets great store by China-Bangladesh relations, and is willing to further accelerate the pace of jointly building the Belt and Road Initiative, so as to bring more benefits to our two countries and peoples,” said the Chinese Premier.
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On the occasion of the 50th anniversary of the independence of Bangladesh, he, on behalf of the government of China, extended sincere congratulations and best wishes to Prime Minister Hasina and to the friendly people of Bangladesh.
“In recent years, under your (Hasina) leadership, the people of Bangladesh have been focusing on reform and development, and have achieved encouraging progress in building the country and improving people's livelihood,” said the Chinese Premier.
As a friendly neighbour and partner, he said, China rejoices at the achievements of Bangladesh. “I wish Bangladesh great prosperity and her people happiness.”
State Councilor and Minister of Foreign Affairs Wang Yi also sent a message to his Bangladesh counterpart Dr AK Abdul Momen.
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“I’m ready to work with you to implement the important consensus reached by leaders of our two countries, promote pragmatic cooperation between our two counties across the board to achieve new results, strengthen communication and coordination in international and regional affairs and bring benefits to the two countries and two peoples,” said the Chinese Foreign Minister.
In recent years, he said, Bangladesh has sustained a sound momentum of social-economic development, with the living standard of her people improved significantly, and has played a contributing role for regional stability and prosperity.
On the occasion of the 50th anniversary of the independence Bangladesh, the Chinese Foreign Minister extended his heartfelt congratulations and best wishes to Dr Momen. “I wish Bangladesh great prosperity and its people happiness.”
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