China could further ease
childbirth curbs: government think-tank
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[December 01, 2016]
BEIJING (Reuters) - China might
further relax, or even scrap, restrictions on childbirth to avoid a "low
birthrate trap", an influential government think-tank has said, as the
country debates how to avert a demographic timebomb.
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China's birth rate, one of the world's lowest, is fast becoming a
worry for authorities, rather than the achievement it was considered
at a time when the government feared over-population.
Beijing formally allowed all couples to have two children in October
last year after decades of enforcing a strict one-child policy for
the vast majority of the population.
But the two-child policy is not the "end point" for adjustments to
regulations on childbirth, the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences
(CASS) said in a report.
"As lifestyles change, people marry and give birth later, and the
willingness to give birth increasingly drops," the top think-tank
said in its yearly Green Book on population and labor released on
Wednesday.
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"In order to avoid falling into a 'low birth rate trap', our nation
may in the future be required to further loosen its restrictions on
giving birth, or even abolish them," it added.
The government's easing of family planning restrictions, which
originally began in 2013, aims to alleviate demographic strains on
the economy, such as a rapidly aging population and a shrinking
workforce.
Despite allowing all couples to have two children, officials
maintain curbs are necessary, because of the pressure China's large
population exerts on resources and the environment.
In March, asked to predict when China might end restrictions on
childbirth, Li Bin, head of the National Health and Family Planning
Commision, replied, "There is no timeline".
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Adjusting the controversial policy, first introduced in the late
1970s to limit population growth, may help boost consumption and
slow society's aging, but it has also brought new obstacles.
Many of the 90 million families eligible for a second child are
lukewarm to the prospect, especially young couples living in big
cities who face a heavy economic burden.
Following the changes, hundreds of parents who lost an only child,
often seen as the primary means of support in old age, protested in
Beijing in April to demand more compensation from the government.
(Reporting by Christian Shepherd; Editing by Clarence Fernandez)
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