Chinese grassroots government workers, who previously enforced decades of strict birth control policies, are now reaching out to women in their neighborhoods to encourage them to become pregnant. This initiative comes in response to China’s ongoing demographic crisis.
Earlier this month, Jane Huang, a 35-year-old mother of one from Fujian province, received a call from her local sub-district office. The caller, a social worker, asked her if she was pregnant. Huang found the call amusing, as the enthusiastic worker even inquired about the timing of her last menstrual period and offered to remind her when it would be “the right time” to conceive again. Huang shared her experience with her husband, highlighting the disconnect between the caller’s approach and the modern values of privacy and personal choice.
Huang is one of many women being contacted in a nationwide campaign organized by local administrative offices. This campaign aims to understand why many women are hesitant to have more children and to develop new policies as the country’s birth rate declines.
On October 17, China’s Population and Development Research Centre announced plans for a nationwide survey to gather data on attitudes toward marriage and fertility. The survey, approved by the National Bureau of Statistics, will target women of childbearing age—defined as those between 15 and 49 years old—from around 30,000 families across 150 counties.
The survey aims to identify the challenges families face in childbirth and parenting, as well as the reasons women may feel they cannot or do not want to have children. This information will help inform policy changes to support higher birth rates.
In Huang’s case, the conversation was brief. She told the social worker that she had no immediate plans for a second child. When asked why, she replied, “I have no money, no time, and no energy for a second baby.”
Huang’s feelings reflect a broader sentiment among women of childbearing age. Officials from three coastal provinces reported hearing similar concerns during their outreach efforts. Many women expressed resentment toward the past one-child policy and voiced worries about the economy and job security. Some suggested that the government should refund fines imposed for violating previous birth control rules to demonstrate sincerity in promoting births.
In 2021, China ended its one-child policy and increased the limit to three children per family. However, there has been no indication that the government plans to refund penalties collected under the previous policy.
Previously, couples who had more children than permitted were charged “social maintenance fees” to legally register their children. For instance, a couple in Guangzhou was fined nearly 320,000 yuan (approximately 1.5 million baht) for having a third child in 2020.
District officials, such as Chen from Guangdong province, revealed that alongside the national survey, local governments have been establishing their own databases to monitor population trends. These databases are being developed in collaboration with various departments, including civil affairs, health, and education, to track the number of women of childbearing age, their intentions regarding additional children, and their financial circumstances.
Some districts have even begun offering free folic acid supplements to women who plan to have more children in the near future, aiming to reduce the risk of birth defects.
However, a report from the YuWa Population Research Institute, published on October 19, warned that the current pro-birth policies may not be sufficient to counteract the declining birth rate. More women are opting to remain single or childless. In 2022, China’s fertility rate dropped to 1.09, while in Shanghai, the rate fell to just 0.6 in 2023.
Experts agree that a replacement fertility rate of 2.1 children per woman is essential for maintaining a stable population. If the current trend continues, the demographic crisis could worsen, leading to a situation where six people die for every child born in the future.
This urgent situation reflects the challenges China faces as it navigates the complexities of changing social values and economic pressures while attempting to boost its birth rate.
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