According to Chinese state media, Beijing intends to implement new measures to encourage the increase in births and combat aging, as part of its new five-year plan 2021-2025.
The "China
Official Daily" newspaper quoted experts as saying that China will provide
great financial and political support to encourage couples to have more
children.
"More
comprehensive population policies will be implemented to improve fertility, workforce
quality and demographics," said Yuan Xin, vice president of the China
Population Association.
China implemented
the "one-child policy" in 1978, saying that rapid population growth,
especially in the countryside, undermined efforts to reduce poverty and develop
the economy.
But the world's
most populous country decided in 2016 to ease restrictions and allow couples to
have a second child in an effort to address the rapid increase in the elderly
population as well as the shrinking workforce, and some experts say all
restrictions must now be removed completely.
Demographers say that the number of citizens aged sixty years and over reached 254 million by the end of last year, equivalent to 18.1 percent of the population, and they say that the number is expected to increase to 300 million by 2025 and 400 million by 2035, which constitutes great pressure on The country's health and social care system.
