Part 3: Does the Recent Change in Policies on Birth Control Do Any Good?
Turning from “Let’s Have Fewer Babies” to “the Economy Now Wants Babies so Bad”
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1949—1954. After the founding of the people's Republic of China, the country needed lots of labor force to rebuild all things. At this time, the Chinese government encouraged to give birth to more children. In April 1950， the Ministry of Health proposed “To protect the lives of the mother and the next generation, illegal abortion is prohibited”. Therefore, the national birth rate remained above 30‰ in this stage.
1955—1971. From 1953 to 1961, China suffered a serious natural disaster and there was negative population growth in 1960 due to a widespread famine. After the recovery of economy and production, China's population growth rate was faster than that of the previous stage. Until 1970, the annual birth rate remained above 35‰ and the population exceeded 800 million. During this period, the government had been gently advocating birth control.
1972—2001. Due to the large population and rapid growth rate, improving people's living standards has become difficult. In 1971, it was proposed that two children would be enough. In 1978, “National Promotion and implementation of family planning" was written into the Constitution. In 1982, family planning became one the basic national polices of China.
2002—2021. By 2002，30 years after the implementation of family planning, the children of the first wave of baby boomers began to retire, the pension burden of the Chinese government increased. At the same time, China's economy was facing rapid growth and needed a large number of young labor force. Then，in 2002，families with only one child were allowed to have second child. In 2011, the one-child policy was fully implemented. In 2015, the nation encouraged the birth of a second child. In 2016, it allowed parents to give birth to a second.
Stage One
Stage Two
Stage Three
Stage Four
On May 31st, 2021, the country’s mostsenior officials decreed that a further relaxation of birth-control regulations would help China to fulfil its goal of “actively coping with an ageing population”. They made plain a deepening demographic predicament: only 12m babies were born last year in China, a drop of almost 20% from 2019 and the country’s lowest population growth since the 1960s.
The three-child policy can be analyzed and understood from two specific angles. In terms of content, it is mainly divided into two aspects.
First, the restrictive measures such as social alimony shall be abolished, and the relevant punishment provisions shall be cleaned up and abolished, that is, there shall be no fines or other penalties for excess birth. The "extra birth penalty" that has existed in Chinese Society for decades officially withdrew from the historical stage.
In the past 40 years since the implementation of family planning, family planning has been a “one vote thing” by the administrative department. Various punishment provisions are harsh and complicated. Social maintenance fees, that is, "fines for excess birth", are particularly impressive to ordinary people.
Social maintenance fee refers to the fund for properly compensating the government's public investment in social undertakings in order to regulate the utilization of natural resources and protect the environment. It is a fee levied on citizens who do not meet the legal conditions to have children.
The cancellation of social alimony not only simply reduces family fertility costs but also reveals the policy orientation. It has gradually changed from the "maximum three child policy" implemented at the meeting of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee on May 30 to the "best three child policy".
Therefore, this point is also interpreted by experts as that although China has not directly announced the abolition of family planning in law today (the basic national policy needs to be deliberated by the National People's Congress), the decision has historically abolished the relevant punishment provisions such as social alimony, which is equal to the full liberalization of fertility.
Second, the introduction of active fertility support measures. This is a transition from "being able to live" to "willing to live and dare to live" based on improving people's fertility will. Specifically, it includes improving the service level of eugenics and child-rearing, developing the inclusive care service system, reducing the cost of fertility, parenting, and education, and striving to reduce the worries of people's fertility.
In my opinion, the most important significance of the central government's decision to promote the long-term balanced development of population and is also a change in the fundamental understanding of population aspects.
The first article of this decision is to "fully understand the great significance of optimizing Fertility Policies and promoting long-term balanced population development", and emphasized the basic strategic significance of human resources and population for the first time.
The paper also mentioned the irreplaceable basic role of the population in enhancing social vitality and expanding domestic demand. This shows that the concept of the population at the central decision-making level has been completely reversed, and the population has changed from a burden to a resource.
Of course, the change of concept is accompanied by the solution to the practical problems of promoting fertility.
In particular, different provinces should take different targeted measures in the face of fertility problems. For example, in Guizhou, parents have 10 days of vacation every year, and the cost of three children's childbirth is included in medical security， Sichuan also has relevant policies. Parents take 10 days of parental leave each year and pay parental subsidies. Wuhan, Hubei: the cost of giving birth to three children is included in the medical insurance, and male employees can enjoy 15 days of nursing leave allowance. Linze of Gansu: For families who have not yet given birth, the total amount of subsidies after giving birth to three children can exceed 100000.
In general, there are many policies related to three children, which shows that our country is exploring and improving the fundamental task crucial for generations to come.
Does the Current Three Child Policy Bring Real Changes?