[The Epoch Times, February 13, 2023](Interview and report by Epoch Times reporter Li Yun) According to a survey, the concept of marriage and childbearing among the younger generation in China is changing. , reaching nearly 10% in 2020.
On the afternoon of February 13, the topic “the rate of women in my country who have no children for life is rising rapidly” once rushed to the top of the hot search list.
According to the report of CCTV, the third China Population and Development Forum was held in Beijing on the 11th. A survey report released at the meeting showed that China is currently experiencing dual changes in population and family, low birth rate and family miniaturization. obvious.
The concept of marriage and childbearing of the younger generation is changing, and the age of first marriage of the national working-age population is continuously being postponed. The average age of women at first marriage continued to rise from 22 in the 1980s to 26.3 in 2020, and the age of first childbearing was delayed to 27.2.
The willingness of women of childbearing age to bear children continues to decline. The average number of children they plan to have in 2021 is 1.64, while the “post-90s” and “post-00s” who are the main body of childbearing are only 1.54 and 1.48; the lifetime childless rate of women is also rising rapidly. It was 6.1% in 2015 and nearly 10% in 2020.
According to a 2021 survey by the “China Population and Development Research Center”, less than 70% of women under the age of 35 believe that “life is complete only with children.”
What is the reason for the rapid increase in the lifetime childless rate of women?
Netizens in mainland China have said: “The main reason is that everyone is under greater economic pressure now.” “The expectation of happiness in life is higher, the society oppresses and exploits more, life is more difficult, and people’s sense of happiness is low!” “The society is too materialistic. Now, most people have limited abilities, and they can’t afford to raise children if they want to enjoy it.”
“Cang Nan Yan”, a female blogger with 1.473 million followers, posted on Weibo that as a woman, she knew the reasons: 1. Women now have the right to speak, and can decide their own affairs, and no longer let others decide… 2. Women’s concept of family has changed. They can choose to marry and have children, or they can choose not to marry and have children.
3. Women are under too much pressure, more so than men. Men only need to work hard for their careers outside, but women are different. They have to work hard for their careers like men outside, but they also have to bear children, take care of children, and do housework. Some units also discriminate against women and require women to balance their careers and families. How tiring is it? How hard is it? The pressure is so great that some women are unwilling to bear children… It is estimated that the unwilling birth rate of Chinese women will gradually increase.
Wang Pei’an, secretary of the party group and executive vice president of the Family Planning Association of the Communist Party of China, suggested on the 11th that the method of raising the fertility rate should give play to the leading role of marriage and childbearing culture, advocate age-appropriate marriage and childbirth, and excellent birth and childbearing, encourage couples to share child-rearing responsibilities, and implement the annual leave system. Gradually adjust and shorten working hours, etc.
Regarding Wang Pei’an’s suggestion, netizens expressed: “Treat the symptoms, not the root cause. The fundamental purpose is to reduce introversion, increase the people’s sense of happiness, reduce the gap between the rich and the poor, and ensure people’s livelihood, welfare, and care for the elderly. But looking at the current situation, the salary is not rising. , Prices soared, weekends changed to 96, just like this, the country also issued laws to delay retirement, and medical care and education (expenses) were overwhelming for ordinary people. However, all they saw was the country’s increasingly powerful propaganda. The real issue of people’s livelihood is this It’s getting more and more over the years.”
“The key is to effectively solve the life pressure of young people, and give real rewards and subsidies to women and families who have children.” “I can feel that the whole country, including these experts and officials, understand that the people’s willingness to have children is not high. The reason is, but there is nothing you can do, you can only make some irrelevant suggestions, but the masses think that these people are just vegetarians.”
China urges local governments to take ‘bold’ steps to boost fertility
In recent years, China’s birth population has continued to decline. On January 17, data released by the Statistics Bureau of the Communist Party of China showed that in 2022, the number of births in China will be 9.56 million, and the number of deaths will be 10.41 million. This is the first time that the CCP has admitted negative population growth since the three-year famine.
In order to promote population growth, the National Medical Insurance Administration of the Communist Party of China issued new measures to help infertile couples to have children; many places in Sichuan introduced management measures to cancel the restrictions on whether birth registration objects are married or not, and legalize unmarried births; some economic experts of the Communist Party of China suggested that, Lower the age of marriage to 18 and increase the fertility rate.
The first issue of “Population and Health” in 2023 published an article by Yang Wenzhuang, Director of the Population Monitoring and Family Development Department of the National Health Commission of the Communist Party of China. The report of the 20th National Congress of the Communist Party of China clarified the orientation and goals of fertility support.
The article also stated that 17 departments of the State Council jointly issued guidance on supporting childbirth, proposing 20 policy measures from seven aspects, and urging local governments to make bold innovations in reducing childbearing, child-rearing, and education costs to promote population growth.
Sheng Xue: The CCP is in a very big population dilemma
Sheng Xue, a Chinese writer living in Canada, said, “The CCP’s current practice tells people very clearly: the CCP has no one left. Now it uses various methods and even some shocking measures to promote population growth and fertility. It really shows that China is in a very big dilemma with population.”
Sheng Xue said that the CCP’s one-child family planning policy and its brutal rule followed by three years of extreme epidemic prevention and control have caused a sharp drop in population. “Because the CCP lies and conceals everything, it is difficult for people to know the real number of deaths. But from its eagerness to take any possible means and find a way to increase the population as soon as possible, it does tell us that there must be a lot of deaths people.”
On January 15th, Master Li Hongzhi, the founder of Falun Gong, revealed that the CCP has been covering up the epidemic for more than three years. The epidemic in China has killed 400 million people. When this wave of epidemic ends, China will die 500 million people.
Master Li said that when SARS appeared last time, 200 million people died in China. Many years later, the CCP discovered that the population had decreased, and immediately released the two-child and three-child system.
Sheng Xue said: “The loss of China’s population has exceeded the CCP’s original estimate. After the second and third births were released, the population still showed negative growth. Therefore, it has to increase efforts to encourage births and population growth. Because the Chinese Not only leeks, but even the CCP’s inexhaustible and inexhaustible resource pool. Now the size of this pool has shrunk, so the CCP will definitely try its best to expand this resource pool.”
“We saw that during the period of the CCP’s blockade, young people in Shanghai shouted out the phrase ‘We are the last generation’ with great grief and indignation. Now the word ‘human mine’ has become popular, and many people have begun to recognize the brutal rule of the CCP. I also realized that the lives of ordinary people are just inanimate mineral resources in the eyes of the CCP, so many people refused to continue having children.”
Ms. Liu, a retired teacher from a Chinese university, told The Epoch Times, “China’s population has been decreasing dramatically in recent years. China’s population is aging, the ratio of men to women is unbalanced, and there is a shortage of labor. However, there is no solution to the disaster caused by family planning. The number of deaths caused is huge, and now it is powerless to develop the population, and now the young people are lying flat and not getting married, how can they have children?”
Responsible editor: Lin Congwen