Amid Significant Drop In Birth Rate, China Expects To Abolish All Restrictions On Childbirth By 2025: Report

China's childbirth restrictions are expected to be lifted completely by 2025 (the end of the government's five-year economic plan).

Representative Photo

New Delhi: China is expected to abolish all childbirth restrictions by 2025, despite reports of a significant drop in its birth rate. A report in The Wall Street Journal cited speculation about the end limits, which found that the action could be carried out at the end of the government's current five-year economic plan.

Areas with the lowest birth rates will be the first to implement the new rules prohibiting any restrictions on childbirth.

Despite changes made last year, the country produces fewer newborns than in any previous year due to a variety of factors, including the depths of the Great Famine and the country's recent economic growth, with per capita income still less than half that of neighbouring South Korea. China also had strict birthing policies, such as sterilising women, forcing abortions on them, imposing hefty fines, and imprisoning those who broke the rules surrounding giving birth.

Why not remove birth caps entirely?

According to CNN, the country most likely did not abandon strict policies entirely due to ethnic minorities in Xinjiang. Beijing is suspected of committing genocide against the Muslim-majority Uyghurs of Xinjiang.

In the far western province, family planning policies were strictly enforced on minorities. The restrictions resulted in a one-third decrease in local births in 2018. Experts believe that repealing the policy would make it much more difficult for Beijing to justify efforts to limit population growth in Xinjiang and other areas with large minority groups, which tend to have more children.

Although the Chinese government's retention of three-child limits on families was not solely motivated by a desire to maintain control over Xinjiang, it would be reluctant to find new roles for the tens of thousands of people employed by the government to oversee the country's massive family planning policy.

China's one-child policy

China implemented a one-child policy nearly 40 years ago in order to control its population, and the birth rate has steadily declined since then. In order to alleviate poverty and prevent a population boom, the policy restricted couples to having only one child. The country is now concerned that it will not have enough young workers to sustain its economic growth. Citing the concern, China provided some relief by allowing two children; however, parents continued to limit themselves to one child for financial reasons.