China: Reversing falling birth rates is increasingly a top government priority

IVF

‍Last Thursday, Beijing’s government announced a major policy: that it would extend insurance coverage for IVF and other assisted reproduction treatments. China lost its crown as the world’s most populous nation back in April — according to the latest estimates from the UN — and the country’s leadership have since intensified their support for policies that encourage having children.

China’s controversial one-child policy, in place in various forms for more than 3 decades, was removed in 2015. Most people would have guessed at the time that the country’s birth rate would rise once the limit on children was lifted. The opposite happened. Birth rates in China collapsed year after year, reaching 6.77 babies born per 1,000 people in 2022  — the lowest level on record. The fact that local governments are willing to spend thousands of dollars on treatments to encourage having a family is evidence of just how seriously authorities are taking the situation.

‍Uphill

‍A reductive point of view can make a strong case that a smaller population may be no bad thing; fewer people obviously consume fewer resources and require less infrastructure. But the pace of China’s population shrinkage is the concern — the country’s population is expected to halve by the end of this century. That means major imbalances in working-age populations. Underfunded pensions, empty houses,  and potentially higher retirement ages are just a few of the economic and social difficulties that the country may face.