GS PAPER I: Role of Women and Women’s Organization, Population and Associated Issues, Poverty and Developmental issues, Urbanization, their problems and their remedies.

Context: China’s population growth is falling closer to zero as fewer couples have children, government data showed, adding to strains on an aging society with a shrinking workforce.

• The population rose by 72 million people over the past 10 years to 1.411 billion in 2020, the National Bureau of Statistics announced after a once-a-decade census.
• It said annual growth averaged 0.53%, down by 0.04% from the previous decade.
• Chinese leaders have enforced birth limits since 1980 to restrain population growth but worry the number of working-age people is falling too fast, disrupting efforts to create a prosperous economy.
• They have eased birth limits, but couples are put off by high costs, cramped housing and job discrimination against mothers.
• Changes in birth limits and other policies “promoted a rebound in the birth population.
• China, along with Thailand and some other developing Asian countries that are aging fast, faces what economists call the challenge of whether it can grow rich before it grows old. Some forecasters warn China faces a “demographic time bomb.”
• The population of potential workers aged 15 to 59 will fall from three-quarters of the total in 2011 to just above half by 2050.

Common reasons behind this decline:

• Many couples share crowded apartments with their parents.
• Child care is expensive and maternity leave short.
• Most single mothers are excluded from medical insurance and social welfare payments.
• Some women worry giving birth could hurt their careers. “Relative to men, when it comes to work, women have to sacrifice more.”
• Japan, Germany and some other rich countries face the same challenge of supporting aging populations with fewer workers. But they can draw on investments in factories, technology and foreign assets. By contrast, China still is a middle-income country with labor-intensive farming and manufacturing.

Demography in Asian economies:

• China’s birth rate, paralleling trends in South Korea, Thailand and other Asian economies, already was falling before the one-child rule.
• The average number of children per mother tumbled from above six in the 1960s to below three by 1980, according to the World Bank.
• The one-child limit, enforced with threats of fines or loss of jobs, led to abuses including forced abortions.
• A preference for sons led parents to kill baby girls, prompting warnings millions of men might be unable to find a wife, fueling social tension.

India’s concerns:

• The latest data put China closer to be overtaken by India as the most populous country, which is expected to happen by 2025.
• India’s population last year was estimated by the U.N. Department of Economic and Social Affairs at 1.38 billion, or 1.5% behind China.
• The agency says India should grow by 0.9% annually through 2025.

https://www.thehindu.com/news/international/china-reports-population-growth-closer-to-zero-in-2020/article34531910.ece?homepage=true

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