China’s population declines for the first time in decades
NBCDec 25, 2022
The Facts
China’s Family Planning Association, the state body for fertility and population measures, has announced it will pilot a project in more than 20 cities to create a “new era” of family and childbearing culture.
According to the Global Times, the pilot was to be launched in tandem with the celebration of the International Day of Families on Monday. China has experienced falling birth and marriage rates since 2017.
The Spin
Anti-China narrative
While India has slowly and steadily grown its population, China is now facing a population crisis having realised its extreme childbirth policies of the past have failed. Now facing an aging population, the country must take lessons from the past and urgently look towards innovative ways to sustain growth and look after an elderly society.
Pro-China narrative
The move is a proactive attempt to reverse the changing perception of younger Chinese generations against the idea of family. Through extending attempts to generate a family-friendly societal atmosphere, the pilot will show China’s youth the possibility to have a healthy equilibrium between family, marriage, career, studies, and general life.