Jonathan Frederic De Santos

Gulou district in Fuzhou City, Fujian in China. Hernel Tocmo, file

Article (news)

Gulou district in Fuzhou City, Fujian in China. Hernel Tocmo, file
 

Agence France-Presse

<div><span class="fr-img-caption fr-fic fr-dib" style="width:960px;display:block" width="960"><span class="fr-img-wrap"><img src="https://od2-image-api.abs-cbn.com/prod/editorImage/1767756616907province-1.jpg" style="width:960px" class="fr-fic fr-dib" width="960"/><span class="fr-inner" style="text-align:left">Gulou district in Fuzhou City, Fujian in China. Hernel Tocmo, file </span></span></span></div><p>BEIJING — Twenty-five-year-old Grace and her husband are set on staying child-free, resisting pressure from their parents and society to produce offspring, even as China strives to boost its flagging birth rate.</p><p>A decade since China scrapped its stringent one-child policy and implemented a two-child policy in January 2016, the nation is dealing with a looming demographic crisis.</p><p>The country&#x27;s population has shrunk for three straight years, with the United Nations predicting it could fall from 1.4 billion today to 633 million by 2100.</p><p>There were just 9.54 million births in China in 2024 — half the number than in 2016 — and concerns about the shrinking and ageing population have been growing as couples choose to buck traditional Chinese norms.</p><p>More young people like Grace, who refers to herself and her husband as DINKs — or &quot;dual income no kids&quot; — have either sworn against having children at all or are putting it off for the next few years.</p><p>These couples&#x27; reasons run the gamut from high child-rearing costs to career concerns.</p><div><a href="https://www.abs-cbn.com/spotlight/01/10/24/is-an-aging-population-good-or-bad-for-ph">Is an aging population good or bad for PH?<br/></a></div><p>Grace, who asked to be identified by her English name over fears of repercussions, said she needed to have a decent income and &quot;some savings&quot; before starting a family.</p><p>Without these conditions, &quot;I wouldn&#x27;t even consider having kids&quot;, the content creator added.</p><p>The term &quot;DINK&quot; has gone viral on Chinese social media, including Xiaohongshu, where its hashtag has received more than 731 million views, sparking differing views on the subject.</p><p>&quot;If I were to widely publicise the fact that I&#x27;m a DINK and talk about how comfortable my life is, there would definitely be many people who wouldn&#x27;t be happy about it,&quot; Grace told AFP.</p><div><br/></div><div><strong>Changing attitudes</strong></div><div><br/></div><p>Chinese authorities have rolled out pronatalist incentives after ending its one-child policy — which had been in place for more than three decades to address poverty and overpopulation.</p><p>Top leaders have pledged more childcare relief, including subsidies to parents to the tune of $500 per year for every child under the age of three, state media reported in July.</p><p>Beijing also slapped a value-added tax on condoms and other contraceptives in January.</p><p>But experts say China, which was overtaken by India as the world&#x27;s most populous nation in 2023, still faces significant hurdles in boosting its birth rate.</p><p>&quot;The number of people choosing not to marry or not to have children is increasing, and fertility intentions among the younger generation are weak,&quot; He Yafu, an independent Chinese demographer, told AFP.</p><div><a href="https://www.abs-cbn.com/lifestyle/2024/11/14/patrol-ng-pilipino-bakit-may-mga-magkarelasyong-pinipiling-hindi-magka-anak-1514">Bakit may mga magkarelasyong pinipiling hindi magka-anak?<br/></a></div><p>Cultural constraints have limited the long-term effectiveness of China&#x27;s pronatalist measures, said Pan Wang, an associate professor at Australia&#x27;s University of New South Wales.</p><p>&quot;The one-child policy fundamentally reshaped family norms and also people&#x27;s lifestyles, because many people, especially the one-child generation, were used to and often prefer smaller family sizes,&quot; Wang told AFP.</p><p>The rising living costs in China and economic uncertainty also continue to deter childbearing, she added.</p><p>Beijing resident Wang Zibo, 29, said he and his wife have decided to wait for the &quot;economy to stabilise&quot; before they have children, even though he said he is in &quot;quite good&quot; financial standing.</p><p>&quot;Looking at things in China right now, the main reason (why young couples are not having children) is still that the economy is somewhat weak,&quot; he told AFP.</p><p>China has struggled to maintain a strong economic recovery from the pandemic, while many employees work long hours under a gruelling &quot;996&quot; culture — 9 am to 9 pm, six days a week.</p><p>&quot;People have been excessively busy with work... for some, it&#x27;s difficult even to find the time to think about (starting a family),&quot; Wang said.</p><div><br/></div><div><strong>No time, no money</strong></div><div><br/></div><p>China in 2021 further relaxed its strict family planning controls, allowing couples to have three children — something many couples, especially those living in cities, are reluctant to do.</p><p>Even having one child is a huge responsibility, Wang said, citing the example of a friend who had a baby shortly after he got married.</p><p>&quot;He would constantly tell me... not only do you have no time and you spend all your money on the child, you kind of lose yourself in the process too.&quot;</p><p>Demographer He said if China&#x27;s fertility rate of around 1.0 persists in the long term, the most obvious consequences will be a continued decline in population size and rapid population ageing.</p><p>&quot;This will increase the future burden of elderly care, weaken China&#x27;s overall national strength, and drag on economic development,&quot; he added.</p>

<p>A decade since China scrapped its stringent one-child policy and implemented a two-child policy in January 2016, the nation is dealing with a looming demographic crisis.</p>

A decade since China scrapped its stringent one-child policy and implemented a two-child policy in January 2016, the nation is dealing with a looming demographic crisis.

China's birth-rate push sputters as couples stay child-free

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China's birth-rate push sputters as couples stay child-free

Agence France-Presse

Published Jan 07, 2026 11:31 AM PHT

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