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Beyond the Two-Child Policy
Article

Beyond the Two-Child Policy

Looming Population Crisis in China, the Underlying Cause and Alternative Measures that Could Be Taken

TMTPost, 2018

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Editorial Rating

7

Qualities

  • Eye Opening
  • Background

Recommendation

For 35 years, China enforced a one-child policy intended to limit the country’s surging population. By 2000, the policy had created a demographic crisis: an aging population with a substantial gender imbalance. The government abolished the policy in 2016 – replacing it with a two-child policy – but the birth rate has continued to drop. Suning Financial Research Institute’s brief report outlines the causes and potential consequences of nearly 40 years of population engineering in China. getAbstract recommends this article to anyone interested in the broad trends in China’s population and economy.

Summary

China faces a population crisis: Its population is both dropping and aging. Since the 2016 enactment of a two-child policy, the number of second children being born has increased – nine million second children were born in 2017 – but both China’s birth rate and the total number of babies born are still falling. In 2017, the birth rate stood at 12.43%, and 17.23 million babies were born – far below the government’s most pessimistic forecast. At the same time, the proportion of China’s older population is continuing to rise. In 2016...

About the Author

Suning Financial Research Institute is a large-scale professional research institute within the Suning Financial Services Group.