Encouraging fertility a basic strategy to counter negative population growth: expert

(ECNS) -- China’s population in 2022 fell by 850,000 from 2021, the National Bureau of Statistics said Tuesday, the first drop since the early 1960s.

Yuan Xin, a professor at the School of Economics of Nankai University said that negative population growth is like the two sides of a coin in economic and social development.

The most important thing is that in the process of promoting high -quality socio-economic development, we must innovate ways to transform potential population opportunities into demographic dividends, Yuan said.

Tao Tao, associate professor at Renmin University of China said encouraging fertility is one of the basic strategies to for countries in the face of negative population growth.

Negative population growth countries will help provide women with medical care services to help them realize their ideal child number, fertility interval and time, he said.

Some countries also focus on the balance between family and work, and promote gender equality in the field of employment by implementing maternity leave, flexible work schedules, and nurseries, he added. 

In addition, he said Sweden, South Korea and other countries will reduce fertility costs through allowance subsidies, along with rent, tax, and tuition fee reductions.