China's State Council has announced new measures aimed at promoting of the birth rate and creating a "birth-friendly society", Reuters and Xinhua news agency reported, as quoted by News.bg.
These policies include improving childbirth and childcare services, support in the areas of education, housing and employment, and actively promoting new cultural approaches to marriage and family formation.
In 2022, India overtook China as the world's most populous country, and according to the United Nations, China's population is expected to decline by 109 million by 2050. In 2023, China's population has declined by 2.08 million, or 0.15%, to 1.409 billion people – significantly more than the drop of 850,000 in 2022, the first since 1961 during the Great Famine of the Mao Zedong era.
China's declining birthrate is a result of the one-child policy that lasted from 1980 to 2015, and the country is now making efforts to reverse demographic trends.