China will enact policies to boost birth rate amid declining population, says Xi Jinping

In an effort to boost declining population due to deces of enacting  controversial one-child law, China will introduce new policies to improve country's birth rate, President Xi Jinping vowed at opening of  20th Party Congress as he is poised to secure  third term in power. His remarks came as Chinese policymakers expressed concerns about "imminent decline" in China's population, which y predict will hurt  world's second-biggest economy in worst way, according to reports.

Xi struggles to tackle China's critically lower birth rates

Beijing h strictly imposed a one-child policy since 1980 that was in effect until 2015. Amid concerns about impact on  demographic framework, Chinese Communist Party later introduced  three-child policy that it later scrapped. China's Xi has since been struggling to tackle critically lower birth rates. An estimated 10.62 million babies were born in Beijing last year, as per  National Bureau of Statistics. This figure has significantly dipped compared to 12.02 million in 2020 and was  lowest-ever recorded birth rate in history of China.

fertility rate of 1.16 calculated in 2021 was also found to be lower than 2.1 OECD standard needed for a stable population. population in China, aged twenties and early thirties have been reluctant to enter into parenthood, and “all-powerful” Communist Party of China seems powerless to do anything about it. And in dition to that problem, men far outnumber women in China, especially in rural areas, and China now has 30 million “surplus” men that critically outnumber women.

"We will establish a policy system to boost birth rates and pursue a proactive national strategy in response to population ageing," Xi was reported as saying to a delegation of 2,300 people at Communist Party Congress in Beijing.

In order to encourage young couples to start a family, Chinese Communist government also came up with lucrative policies such as flexible working arrangements and preferential housing. Chinese Cabinet reportedly announced that it will opt for an integrated approach to make it easier for couples to marry and have up to three children. Chinese government asked employers to provide couples with flexible working hours as well as directed companies to provide an option for working from home for those who have children.