‘“We were wrong, we made a mistake”—of course the Chinese Communist Party would never say that.’
China may begin a campaign of forced pregnancy, ordering young couples to get married and have more babies if the demographic challenges become more serious, according to Steven Mosher, president of the Population Research Institute.
Data from China’s National Statistics Bureau, released on Jan. 17, show that just 9.02 million babies were born last year—the seventh straight year that number has fallen. It has now hit the lowest level since the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) seized control of China in 1949.
The CCP adopted the policy of allowing families to have three babies in 2021. Local authorities across the nation have also introduced incentives to encourage couples to have children. Options include tax deductions, housing subsidies, and free education in state schools.
These measures are expected to have limited effects, according to Mr. Mosher, who was among the first U.S. social scientists who worked in China after Washington normalized diplomatic ties with Beijing in 1979. To stem the ongoing demographic decline, every woman would have to have three children, given that decades of a one-child policy and a traditional preference for sons have resulted in fewer women of childbearing age now.
“I can’t think of any combination of bribes or incentives that could induce young women to marry and have those children,” Mr. Mosher said during a recent interview with NTD, sister media outlet of The Epoch Times.
Although China has gone from punishing couples for having too many children to encouraging them to have more, it may not be easy to change how the public views big families after decades of indoctrination.
“For the last 30, 40 years, they’ve been told that children are burdens and not blessings; they’ve been told that everybody should have fewer children for the sake of the country. Now all of a sudden, you can’t turn on a dime and say, start having children,” Mr. Mosher said.
“‘We were wrong, we made a mistake’—of course the Chinese Communist Party would never say that.”
The CCP’s push to boost national birthrates comes as its economic growth rate slowed to one of the lowest levels in decades in 2023, official data released earlier this month show. The weak economy and high unemployment rate deter young Chinese from having babies, he said.
By Dorothy Li and Steve Lance
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