By Martin Cole-
Dictatorial China is now permitting couples to have up to three children, after census data showed a steep decline in birth rates.
China has changed its two-child limit to allow its citizens to have three children, but its population are already used to its restrictive laws that limits its number of children. They Chinese have grown comfortable with the prohibitive law, finding it economically productive for them,. Fewer children mean less costs, and less family distractions and more focus.
The law appears to have paid off for its population and thriving economy which has expanded in recent years, establishing multi- national corporations in many countries that define its growing foreign direct investments. The only difference the new law has is to allow Chinese people who want to have three children to do so.
Approved
The latest move was approved by President Xi Jinping in a politburo meeting , but the Chinese population is already used to limiting its family size to two children, and is not expected to respond positively to the announcement.
The government said the announcement will be backed with “supportive measures, which will be conducive to improving our country’s population structure, fulfilling the country’s strategy of actively coping with an ageing population and maintaining the advantage, endowment of human resources”, according to Xinhua news agency.
“If relaxing the birth policy was effective, the current two-child policy should have proven to be effective too,” Hao Zhou, a senior economist at Commerzbank, told Reuters news agency.
“But who wants to have three kids? Young people could have two kids at most. The fundamental issue is living costs are too high and life pressures are too huge,” Zhou said.
For over three decades, China imposed a draconian one-child policy, designed to control over population. Its replacement, a two-child limit, failed to produce an increase in the number of births as the high cost of raising children in Chinese cities deterred many couples from starting families.
The bullish Chinese government’s current two-child policy, fine couples a “social support fine” for having a third child. The amount is set by local governments, and the administrative charge is up to 10 times the per capita disposable income. However, some say the implementation of this policy varies in different parts of the country.
China’s social media platform Weibo has been buzzing with discussion since the news, with The hashtag #Here-comes-the-three-child-policy had reached 2bn views, with many questioning whether the policy is too little and too late.
One commentator said :I myself am a product of the one-child policy. I already have to take care of my parents. Where would I find the energy to raise more than two kids?” one user posted on Weibo. “I am willing to have three children if you give me 5 million yuan (£554,350),” wrote another commenter.
He Yafu, an independent demographer in Guangzhou, said that given the limited impact of the two-child policy, the announcement will hardly help reverse the current trend. “The relaxation may not achieve as much as the authorities would have anticipated. It’s too costly to raise a child these days, and housing is not cheap in China,” he said.
The Chinese government is worried about the drastic fall in birth rates, after its latest census showed that around 12 million babies were born last year – a significant decrease from the 18 million in 2016, and the lowest number of births recorded since the 1960s.