China seems to be upset with its dwindling population, as a major policy shift took place in there. Yes, China made an announcement on Monday, that every couple now would be allowed to have up to three children. This policy change came in view of falling birthrate as the recent figures revealed. China saw a dramatic drop in the birth of children. The change was approved during a Politburo meeting which was chaired by President Xi Jinping, according to reports from China’s official news agency, Xinhua.
In 2016, China ended its decades-old one-child policy. China introduced this policy as a measure to prevent population explosion. Child births in China was not increasing at a high rate even with it’s two children policy. The reason behind this was high cost of raising children in China, which resisted parents from having children.
Earlier this month, the data of China’s decennial census was released. This data showed that the population grew at the slowest rate during the last decade since the 1950s. Women in China gave birth to an average of 1.3 babies in 2020.
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China’s falling birthrate as per census
China’s population grew by 0.53 percent and turned out to be 1.41178 billion and this rate of population growth is the slowest. The population in 2019 was 1.4 billion. But, China still continues to be the most populous country, as per the official estimates. This number may decline by next year, which might lead to the shortage of labour, at the same time, the consumption will reduce too, in future. And this will have negative impact on the economic posture of the country.
According to the recently released seventh national census data by the Chinese government, the population of China, including all thirty one provinces, autonomous regions as well as municipalities, has increased to 1.41178 billion, 5.8 percent or 7.2 million more, in comparison to 2010 figures. Hong Kong and Macau are excluded from these figures. China conducts a national census every 10 years since the 1990s. Looking into the latest figures we find that, the country’s population rose by 5.38 percent i.e. 7.206 crore and became 1.41178 billion as compared to 2010.