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City’s government in more children plea
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A CITY in central China’s Hubei Province is urging its younger officials to have a second child as the nation faces stalling birth rates and a fast-aging population,
Yichang’s government posted an open letter calling for more children to stem a slide in birth rates in the city.
China’s demographic situation has become increasingly urgent of late as the country faces a growing aging population.
“Young cadres have to take the lead having a second child, while elder cadres should urge them on,” the letter said, citing the need to bolster the city’s working population and raise a fertility rate that has fallen below one child per woman.
“If things continue as they are, it will bring huge risk and damage to our city’s economic and social development, as well as the livelihood of our families,” said the letter.
Last year, China said it would ease family planning restrictions to allow all couples to have two children after decades of a strict one-child policy, a move that is aimed at relieving demographic strains on the world’s second largest economy.
There are concerns that a shrinking workforce will be unable to support a fast-growing elderly population.
By around the middle of this century, one in every three Chinese is forecast to be over the age of 60.
“The low birth rate has aggravated the risk of the one-child policy, led to an aging population, a shortfall in the labor force, and lagging urbanization, which hits the city’s labor productivity and overall competitiveness,” according to the letter.
The open letter, picked up by domestic media late on Wednesday but dated September 13, has received a mixed response from the public.
Yan Liu, a civil servant in Shanghai who has a 14-month-old daughter, said: “Our jobs are stable so it’s easier to have two children.
“Those with a busier job have to sacrifice more if they want a second kid.”
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