China’s family-planning agency aims to roll out changes to the country’s one-child policy, allowing some parents to have a second child, in the beginning of next year
December 25, 2013 Leave a comment
China’s One-Child Policy to Change in New Year
Government Concerned About Falling Birthrate
LAURIE BURKITT
Dec. 23, 2013 10:36 p.m. ET
BEIJING—China’s family-planning agency aims to roll out changes to the country’s one-child policy, allowing some parents to have a second child, in the beginning of next year, according to China’s official Xinhua news agency.The family-planning commission will ease the policy, allowing married couples to have two children if one spouse is an only child, in the first quarter of 2014, Xinhua cited Yang Wenzhuang, a director at the National Health and Family Planning Commission, as saying.
Officials announced last month changes to the policy, initiated in 1980 to control China’s booming population, as part of a blueprint for economic and social reforms drawn up by the Communist Party leadership. The blueprint didn’t specify a timeline or details of the rollout.
Xinhua quoted lawmakers urging quick action. “If the current family planning policy persists, the birthrate will continue to fall and lead to a sharp drop of the total population after reaching a peak,” said Li Bin, minister in charge of the National Health and Family Planning Commission, when briefing lawmakers, according to the news agency.
Demographers in recent years have warned Chinese leaders of a looming labor crisis due to declining birthrates and had urged leaders to start easing the policy immediately. The number of people entering the workforce is shrinking while the portion of elderly is rising.
Between 2010 and 2030, China’s labor force is expected to lose 67 million workers, according to projections from the United Nations. China’s birthrate has dropped between 1.5 and 1.6 since the 1990s, Xinhua said. The working population began declining by 3.45 million annually in 2012 and will decline by eight million each year after 2023, Xinhua said.
The new policy is expected to add about one million to two million new births a year for the next three years, according to Wang Feng, a demographer at China’s Fudan University.
Xinhua said authorities were still in the process of approving specific regulations and would announce them after calculating the number of eligible couples.
State broadcaster China Central Television said health authorities were preparing health and education services and were boosting their prenatal departments to assist couples over the age of 30 who qualify to have a second child under the new rules.
Family planners say that China has prevented 400 million births since 1980 with the contentious policy.
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