The Legacy of China's One-Child Policy

[Randy W]

China’s national population survey kicks off amid the country’s first population drop in over six decades

• 1.4 million people to be studied in a bid to monitor population developmental changes and help the government formulate new policies
• High childcare costs, gender discrimination and traditional stereotypes of women caring for children contributing to the fall in the birth rate

Reuters | Published: 5:19pm, 1 Nov, 2023

 

China has kicked off a nationwide population survey that will last two weeks. Source: Bloomberg
 

Quote

 

China has begun polling 1.4 million people in a survey on population changes, as authorities struggle to incentivise people to have more children amid a declining birth rate and the first population drop in more than six decades.

The poll, which was announced on October 10 in an unexpected move, will focus on urban and rural areas throughout the country. The survey will be based on a sample of 500,000 households and will last for around two weeks until November 15, China’s National Bureau of Statistics said.

It will help provide a basis to monitor China’s population developmental changes and for the government and Communist Party to formulate national economic, social development and population related policies, it said.

 . . .

Population development has often been linked to the strength and “rejuvenation” of the country in state media amid the declining birth rate and widespread concerns by citizens on the difficulties of raising children.

 

 

Edited November 2, 2023 by Randy W (see edit history)

[Randy W]

Is China Drifting Toward a ‘Singles Society’?
Experts worried about a rise in singledom are missing a key part of the puzzle.

from the Sixth Tone on Facebook
https://www.facebook.com/sixthtone/posts/pfbid037QTKBJkzuDM6wWjbKqCTLzAiVsNFQqr6usuRtMeh2DqBwvxvwvCHRhbeEFMzXYXAl

Is China Drifting Toward a ‘Singles Society’?
Experts worried about a rise in singledom are missing a key part of the puzzle.

Quote

 

These beliefs are not always borne out by the data. Although sometimes written off as an urban phenomenon afflicting the over-educated, a close analysis of recent census and survey data suggests this stereotype breaks down once you control for gender and region. Take singles aged 35 to 49, for example. Among males, the share of unmarried persons is highest among those with a primary school education or lower; for women, it peaks among those with graduate-level educations or higher.

This gender imbalance can lead to a “marriage squeeze,” in which some people are simply unable to find spouses. Among rural Chinese aged 20 to 49 with a primary school education or lower, there are a staggering 474.5 unmarried men for every 100 unmarried women. In contrast, among unmarried urbanites aged 35 to 49 with a bachelor’s degree or higher, there are just 97.7 men for every 100 women.

 . . .

But staying single carries its own dangers. Young people with abundant personal resources can flourish outside the confines of marriage, becoming “one-person households.” Yet even singles with strong support systems face precarity. Whether in terms of real estate, durable consumer goods, or other facets of life, studies have found the scale effects of marriage reduce the cost of living and support couples as they make long-term plans and investments — advantages not enjoyed by their single counterparts.

Many Chinese singles are fully aware of this gap. In the 2017 edition of the Chinese General Social Survey, a well-regarded, nationally representative survey, when faced with two scenarios typical of individual vulnerability — an inability to complete household chores alone and being bedridden due to illness — 75% and 88% of singles said they would still be mostly reliant on their family for assistance, a situation that will become more untenable as their parents age and transition from caregivers to “careneeders.”

 . . .

In this regard, China is not quite the same as countries where an outright refusal to marry is prevalent. Instead, it more closely resembles Japan, where scholars such as James Raymo, Fumiya Uchikoshi, and Shohei Yoda have found that singles remain a minority, and staying single is often a product of circumstances, rather than individual choice — a phenomenon they call “‘drifting’ into singlehood.”

According to the most recent census, the number of unmarried persons in China between the ages of 20 and 49 reached 134 million in 2020. China has responded by spending heavily on addressing its population challenges, as well as on creating more equal workplaces and social environments. Reducing the insecurities faced by young people and promoting social mobility are important, but more attention should also be paid to how contemporary youths’ understanding of marriage has shifted in recent years.

 

 

Edited November 9, 2023 by Randy W (see edit history)