The article targets to point out the consequence of dropping One-Child policy to allow couples who are both the only one kid at home to give birth twice because of a shrinking labor force in current China. “Chinese Communist Party (C.C.P.) …hoped that the new policy would bring three million additional births a year through 2020 and add more than 30 million workers to the labor force by 2050.”In case of this new policy, Mainstream demographers believe that relaxing the birth control policy will not lead to a surge in population. It will also bring about many benefits such as the normalization of the sex ratio at birth and the relaxation of social conflicts. From the survey sample distribution, the number of people thinking that the two children should be implemented accounted for 58.23%, more than half, and the number of people who chose to continue to adhere to strict one-child only accounted for 9.17% of the overall ratio.
However, according to the news report, after the full-fledged two-child policy was opened, some experts predicted that “the Chinese population will usher in an explosive growth. In 2017, China should have at least 20.23 million people born.” What is the truth? Not long ago, the National Bureau of Statistics released a set of data: “In 2017, China’s total birth population was 17.23 million in the year, a decrease of 630,000 from 2016; the birth rate was 12.43‰, and the neonatal and birth rates were both lower, and the ratio of two children was 51.2. The above data shows two points: 1. The number of births of two children is far below the expected value (a digital gap of 3 million); 2. In the case of a decrease in the total birth volume, the number of two children increases, but it means that one child was born. The number was severely declining, and the data hit the experts’ predictions. The reality is that after 80s, they do not want to chase their second child, and even after 90s, they do not want to be born. Indeed, today, after 80 and 90, they are faced with all sorts of colors. The pressure is on the social status quo of high housing prices, high investment in education, highly competitive workplace environment, and incomplete medical and social security.
Fincher, Leta Hong. “China Dropped Its One-Child Policy. So Why Aren’t Chinese Women Having More Babies?”The New York Times. Feb 20, 2018. https://www.nytimes.com/2018/02/20/opinion/china-women-birthrate-rights.html Accessed April 2, 2018.
Marta Monteiro. “Second Child Policy for New Born Babies.” The New York Times. Feb 20, 2018. https://www.nytimes.com/2018/02/20/opinion/china-women-birthrate-rights.html. Accessed April 2, 2018.