Hefei, City in China

Although China's economy looks comparatively strong in the short term, the country however is losing out demographically, as there have been several indications that fewer babies were born in the country in 2020 than in any year since 1961, when it suffered mass starvation.According to the Wall Street Journal (WSJ) survey of demographers and economists, a median estimate of 15 per cent drop in 2020 births from 14.65 million in 2019 was recorded. The most restrained estimated was for a 10 per cent drop.A report from Capital Economics this month stated that it is possible that slowing productivity growth and a shrinking workforce would prevent China from overtaking the United States, adding that the US will be helped by immigration that keeps refilling its supply of workers.China's workforce is expected to shrink by more than 0.5 per cent a year, the report said, as fewer young people would be able to replace an increasing number of retirees, which is in dire contrast to the US, where the workforce is expected to expand throughout the next 30 years.Several cities have already reported big birth declines with Wenzhou, Hefei and Ningbo reporting an estimated fall in birth percentage of 19 per cent, 23 per cent and 12 per cent respectively, wrote Liyan Qi for the WSJ.According to some demographers, the COVID-19 pandemic probably contributed to suppressing births, adding to problematic fundamentals including a declining number of women of childbearing age and a reluctance to have two children among many couples.Furthermore, Credit Suisse in a report said that births at maternity hospitals in 20 Chinese cities declined by 24 per cent during the first 10 months of 2020. The findings "foreshadow rising pressure on policy makers to remove remaining family-planning controls and switch to proactively support the birthrate."Since the abolition of the one-child policy in 2016, many expected a boom in second children. However, a baby bump in 2016 proved short lived as every year afterwards has reported a decline in births, reported WSJ.Qi further wrote that some local governments across China have started to quietly allow families to have a third child, rather than the officially permitted two. In a February 18 statement, the National Health Commission said that it would let local authorities in China's economically depressed northeast to explore lifting birth restrictions.However, even if the restrictions are lifted in China, demographers say it will have little effect. "Over the coming years, births will probably keep dropping," said He Yau, an independent demographer based in Guangdong.Cai Yong, a sociologist at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill said that low fertility in China is a real problem, which will continue in the coming years.( With inputs from ANI )Disclaimer: This post has been auto-published from an agency feed without any modifications to the text and has not been reviewed by an editor

Home

City

Latest News

Cricket

LT Premium

National

International

Maharashtra

Opinions

Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar

Nagpur

Entertainment

Photos

Business

Technology

Sports

Lifestyle

Social Viral

Lokmat Games

Health

Pahalgam Terror Attack

Tahawwur Rana

IPL 2025

CM Devendra Fadnavis

Mumbai Local

Weather Update

HefeiFOLLOW

Hefei, Latest News

International :Australia demands answers from China over use of laser on its Air Force jet

Australia on Monday demanded from China to investigate the use of the laser to "illuminate" an Australian Air Force jet. ...

Technology :China sustains artificial sun at record 120 mn C for over 100 sec

Beijing, June 10 China's "artificial sun" recently broke the world record as achieved a plasma temperature of 120 million ... ...

International :Fresh COVID-19 infections in Chinese provinces see rush on vaccines

Two Chinese provinces have reported the country's first cases of community transmission in over three weeks, which has triggered a run for COVID-19 vaccines as residents are lining up to get jabs. ...

International :Dip in birth rate to hamper China's workforce in coming years

Although China's economy looks comparatively strong in the short term, the country however is losing out demographically, as there have been several indications that fewer babies were born in the country in 2020 than in any year since 1961, when it s ...