China's Falling Birth Rate: Can It Sustain The Rise To Superpower? | Insight | Full Episode

In January 2016, China finally announced the end of its controversial one-child policy, first rolled out in 1980. For the first time in almost 40 years, all couples were allowed to have up to two children. The key objective back then was to halt and possibly reverse the steep decline in birth rates in the world's most populous nation. But the fertility rate kept falling drastically, down to 1.3 per woman, far below the replacement level of 2.1 needed to maintain a stable population.

In May this year, China scrapped its two-child policy, in favour of a 3-child policy, to try and arrest the rapid fall in birth rates. But getting parents to change their mindset will not be easy. Will the drastic policy shift lead to a rapid surge in the fertility rate? With fewer babies, coupled with the rapid increase in the number of elderly citizens, will that mark the end of China’s phenomenal economic growth, and hinder its rise as the next global superpower?

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[warfighter]

Imagine having to work 9 to 10 6 days a week and having three children to take care off, yeah no thank you. Lessen the workload and your birthrate goes up its not that complicated

[HB-rynq]

if society was easier for them to live in, with less workload and better quality of life for children, ppl would have more kids. this is a quiet crisis happening all over the world. its definitely happening in america too. young people are deciding to not have children because they cannot afford to give them a good life.

[keyboarddancers]

Very sobering documentary. However it glossed over some of the more unpleasant consequences of the one child policy like forced sterilisations, forced abortions, female infanticide, imbalanced sex ratios and poor marriageable status of financially impoverished/uneducated men.

[philipaubin]

It will take at least 2 generations to change the current social norm. Western countries use migration to offset low birth rates, which may not be an option for China.

[sapalmya]

People from upper class or celebrity can easily afford two, three children but still don't want more children to enjoy their lavish lifestyle, freedom, what can you expect from middle class people who are busy earning their daily livelihood and can't even find time for family interactions

[edwardlumsianming]

it is the economy system that resulted in this. Today children are a liability rather a blessing.

[ManCatCheese]

as economic inequality increases, the ability for couples to have children decreases. It's fairly simple, if you don't provide enough opportunities for the middle and lower classes, they aren't going to give birth to consumers, leading to economic contraction. Maybe governments should actually start taxing the exorbitantly wealthy to ensure widespread wellbeing for everyone else

[DoubleDogDare]

One point not addressed in this program is the fact that not only was the 1-child-policy very successful at reducing the birthrate in China, but the fact if couples were restricted to only one kid, they took steps to make sure that single child was male. China offed millions of female children by various methods, leaving a huge surplus of males. It takes two to tango. When you have a smaller number of women of childbearing age and a high percentage of them are happy with one or none when it comes to kids, yep, your population crashes.

That means India will be the next China.

[dohminkonoha]

China:Birth rate is decreasing!
It’s national crisis!
Japan:Funny, rookie.
Hold my sake.

[johnnywatson]

Whether to have the second or even the third child has nothing to do with your liking children or not in general, it only depends on your socioeconomic status. The first couple in the video, from their accent, or at least from the male's, you can say that they are locals, which means they have at least one apartment in Beijing. The mere fact relieves a lot of financial pressure from the couple. That might be one of the biggest reasons behind their multi-child lifestyle.

[jemdude]

I don't even want to keep a dog or cat at home, much less a human baby.

[DonLee]

imagine how many years of mental and financial planning it takes to raise a child. imagine how many years it was embedded in their minds that you can ONLY have 1 child. Then suddenly be told, you can now double that, and shortly after... actually no, triple that if you want. Good luck with that. China's main concern right now is that there won't be enough younger people to work, which will lead to a stagnant economy.

[MrJ]

Birth rate is a reflection of the quality of life in society. And in an ultra competitive society there’s just very little mental capacity left for couples to raise children.

[hellome]

Having a declining birth rate is not only happening in China but also with other countries. Having multiple children can be expensive. It’s easy to be on the outside and say have more babies. When in reality having less children can be the best for a family financially.

[Nightscream]

In most cultures having as many children as possible was normal & expected, this was due to low infant survival rates & having more children meant more help in the fields. As humans industrialized & we advanced medically, the NEED for large families subsided & the normal became 2 to 3 kids.

But now its hard to want to bring kids into the world when you can barely afford to keep a roof over your head and food on the table.

[meganlukes]

Now that I’m an adult, I especially wish I had siblings. It seems like my friends feel a lot more comfortable asking their adult siblings for help, it seems harder to maintain truly life-long friendships, the kind where you’ll really always be there for each other and won’t just drift apart, than it is to maintain just relatively good relationships with family. When my parents get old, it will be totally on me to take care of them and watch over them, my parents had their siblings to help take care of their parents when they got old.

[elizabethfw]

I'm from a third world and people here have at least 3 and the poorer they are, the more the children. I plan to have none, the economy doesn't allow me to raise one and I lack the grace of being a parent. That being said if China has the 996 work life balance like South Korea, even one child is a burden.

[Lyl]

I also watched a documentary on another related topic: the second/third children that were born in that period, some mothers would hide them and they lived a ghost life afterward, because of this policy. I don't recall the title. That is another issue indeed. Could they not be recognized now?

[christophertobin]

It's already too late....they been running on the one child policy for close to forty years and they are in a rush to boost that birth rate. However, with the cost of having a baby being too much to carry the burden, a property bubble that is slowly bursting and an increasingly ageing population, China is going to take risks. It's no wonder the regime in power has been beating their chests about reunifying Taiwan with the "motherland" they know they are dying and are trying to get what they can before their window of opportunity closes.

[llieu]

You can allow people to have 10 babies…whatever, useless policy, just like if you make it legal for me to buy a Boeing 747, but obviously it’s meaningless cuz I simply can’t afford it. Same for the Chinese society, especially with the younger generation, the one-child mentality still exists. Young people have to work long time, and there’s almost no welfare given for having a kid, and it costs a lot for the healthcare, recreation and education of the children. The time and economic restraints are dominating, so many young people don’t want kids. Also with the “liberalizing” mentality of well educated young people, more are pursuing an individualistic and free lifestyle instead of being constrained to families