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Background

Sidney Leng

Is China’s population a cause for concern?

Beijing began releasing demographic data in May from its seventh national population census, and the figures show that Chinese mothers gave birth to just 12 million babies in 2020 – the lowest total since 1961. Photo: AFP

Beijing began releasing demographic data in May from its 2020 population census, and China’s working-age population is expected to decline rapidly in the coming years. Photo: AFP

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China’s overall population continued to grow in 2020, but Chinese mothers gave birth to just 12 million babies – the lowest total since 11.87 million in 1961 amid the Great Chinese Famine.


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Cissy Zhou

China population: infertility rate rising faster than expected, new reproductive study shows

China saw its infertility rate rise to 18 per cent in 2020, according to a recent study. Photo: Shutterstock

China saw its infertility rate rise to 18 per cent in 2020, according to a recent study. Photo: AFP

Economic Indicators

Social Policy

One out of every 5.6 couples of childbearing age in China is unable to make a baby despite frequently having unprotected sex for at least a year.


Pearl Liu

Three-child policy: China’s median home size may have to grow by a third to 120 square metres to house larger families

A sales assistant (right) and a customer in front of a model of a residential complex at a real estate exhibition in Shanghai on April 30, 2015. Photo: Reuters.

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Money & Wealth

The availability and affordability of suitable housing are often cited as the biggest hurdle for many couples in China’s major urban centres, as they contemplate upsizing their households.


Mandy Zuo

China’s population growth hit by ‘fewer babies’ and childless households which pose risks for the future, experts say

Couples in China are delaying or completely avoiding having children owing to the cost of child-rearing, a more mobile workforce and a desire for personal freedom. Photo: AFP

A photo taken on March 21, 2013 shows a woman with one of her grandchildren in their home in Chengde, Hebei province, a town where inhabitants are not bound by the 'one-child' birth-control policy enforced in other parts of China. Critics of China's one-child policy have long pointed to self-imposed birth limits in Chengde and elsewhere to argue that the policy is unnecessary for population control and even harmful, having given rise to rights abuses and demographic imbalances. The dismantling last week of China's family planning commission, whose hundreds of thousands of personnel enforce the limit, gave critics faint hope that change might be in the works. Parents in the town of Chengde are allowed to have two children although many opt for just one anyway, citing the financial implications of having more. AFP PHOTO / Ed Jones (Photo by Ed Jones / AFP)CREDIT: AFP

A woman pushes a baby on a stroller along an alley in Beijing on May 12, 2021. (Photo by GREG BAKER / AFP)CREDIT: AFP

A newborn babies lie on a hospital bed in Beijing on December 1, 2008. The Chinese government has insisted extensive measures have been taken to ensure melamine is no longer in China's dairy supply after admitting that a total of 294,000 children had fallen ill from consuming dairy products tainted with the industrial chemical, normally used to make plastics, after it emerged in September that melamine had been routinely mixed into Chinese milk and dairy products to give  the impression of having a higher protein content. The scandal quickly became a global problem, with Chinese dairy products around the world recalled or banned after they were found to be tainted with the industrial chemical. AFP PHOTO/Frederic J. BROWN (Photo by FREDERIC J. BROWN / AFP)CREDIT: AFP

Gender & Diversity

Social Welfare

Trending in China

The growth in no-kids households, mobile workers and smaller families has allowed couples greater freedom but poses challenges for a country with an ageing population and a falling birth rate.


Qu Hongbin

Yes, China’s workforce is shrinking – but it’s also much smarter and more productive than before

Workers check rolls of sheet aluminium at a factory in Wuhan, in central Hubei province, on May 8. China’s 14th five-year plan emphasises the development of the manufacturing industry, which can help prompt more migrant workers to shift to higher productivity jobs in that sector. Photo: AFP

Comment

In all, these better-educated and more productive workers will be more than enough to offset the negative impact of an ageing population and shrinking labour force.


Column

Paul Yip

Why China’s dire demographic news signals need to adapt, focus on productivity

Illustration: Craig Stephens

What really matters for dealing with an ageing society and a shrinking workforce is to make economic activities more robust. China should also work to build up an attractive living environment to improve people’s quality of life, instead of focusing on quantity.


Frank Tang

China population: ‘fully open childbirth’ policy needed as calls increase for census response

China’s census confirmed that while the overall population continued to grow last year 1.412 billion in 2020, the number of new births fell to a 60-year low of 12 million in 2020. Photo: Reuters

China’s census confirmed that while the overall population continued to grow last year 1.412 billion in 2020, the number of new births fell to a 60-year low of 12 million in 2020. Photo: AFP

China’s banking regulator has already announced it will pilot private pension products from June in response to the results of the population census, but changes to family planning policies have yet to emerge.


David Dodwell

Why China’s future remains bright regardless of shrinking population fears

People walk to the Bund during Labour Day in Shanghai on May 1. Photo: EPA-EFE

China’s future is linked to rising productivity and more skill and technology intensity. Urbanisation, better education and job opportunities for women and improved productivity will have greater influence than raw population figures.


Outside In

Amanda Lee

China population: state pension fund under pressure from ‘unprecedented challenge’ as nation gets older

The number of elderly people aged 65 and over in China rose to 191 million last year from 119 million in 2010. Photo: EPA-EFE

The number of elderly people aged 65 and over in China rose to 191 million last year from 119 million in 2010. Photo: AFP

Politics

China’s working age population fell last year, while the nation’s elderly population grew, adding to the pressure on the state pension fund.


SCMP Editorial

Census figures add up to a huge challenge for China’s policymakers

Shoppers check out offerings from Beijing souvenir shops last October. China’s working-age population dropped to 63 per cent in 2020 from 70 per cent a decade earlier, according to the latest census figures. Photo: Bloomberg

Data may not have been as bleak as some predicted with the country having more people today than in 2010, but the time is fast approaching when that will not be the case and Beijing needs to ensure a fine balance between policy, development and resource demand.


Editorial

He Huifeng

China’s population outlook worrying as young people baulk at high cost of having kids

Many believe that there is a general consensus among China’s millennials and Generation Z that having children will impose a strong financial burden under the country’s current public welfare conditions. Illustration: Brian Wang

Fiscal & Monetary Policy

China’s ageing population is the least of concerns for Gen Z and millennials who can barely afford to make ends meet, much less have children.


China’s census: what is it and why is the latest population survey so important?

China conducted its seventh national population census in November and December 2020, where a huge range of personal and household information, including the age, education, occupation, marital and migration status of people living in the world’s most populous nation was gathered. Photo: Getty Images

China conducted its seventh national population census in November and December 2020, where a huge range of personal and household information, including the age, education, occupation, marital and migration status of people living in the world’s most populous nation was gathered. Photo: AFP

China’s national population census is conducted once a decade and is crucial to future economic and social planning, with the seventh conducted in November and December 2020 and released in May 2021. 


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Ann Cao

China’s flagging birth rate, weak consumer spending prompt top online baby-and-mom emporium Mia.com to trim operations

Mia.com saw its business expand over the past decade on the back of strong demand in China for imported baby-and-mom products such as diapers, baby milk formula, toys and garments. Photo: Handout

Mia.com was founded in 2011 by stay-at-home mother and entrepreneur Liu Nan in Beijing. Photo: Simon Song


The landing page of Mia.com, operator of a popular Chinese online shopping emporium for baby-and-mom merchandise. Photo: Handout

Tech

Big Tech

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Mia.com’s move to trim operations and operate via WeChat’s platform reflects how the market has soured on specialist baby-and-mom shopping portals.


Alibaba

Alice Yan

‘Twins village’: why are so many sets of twins born in this remote Chinese community? 33 in total

Mystery of twins: village in China has 33 sets of twins out of 630-plus families due to ‘rich soil, good environment’, claim residents. Photo: The Paper

Villagers attribute the high rate of twins to the local environment such as the rich soil and water, although there is no scientific evidence for the theory. Photo: The Paper

Around the world, the chances of having twins for a couple is 1 per cent, and the rate for China is 0.5 per cent. Photo: The Paper

Genetic factors are far more likely to be a contributor than the environmental reasons claimed by locals, say doctors. Photo: The Paper

In China the chances of parents conceiving twins is just 0.5 per cent, but in one remote village at least 33 sets of twins have been born between just 631 families in the last dozen years alone.


Kim Bo-eun

Luna Sun

China, South Korea battle population woes as ‘children are not a must’, adding to economic peril

South Korea and China face similar fundamental problems that are deterring people from having children – a tough job market and expensive housing costs. Illustration: Henry Wong

scmp

Global Economy

Asia

East Asia

Japan’s shrinking population has long been an obsession, but its East Asian neighbours of South Korea and China are now facing the same problem as fertility rates, births and marriages fall, creating an economic headache for both Seoul and Beijing.


Xinlu Liang

Chinese province offers more maternity leave to help avert population crisis

Authorities throughout China are trying to encourage women to have more children. Photo: Getty Images

Hunan authorities say women can negotiate with their employers to take up to a year off work after they give birth.
