In an effort to address rapid population aging, China has just announced that it will allow all families to have up to three children.
The decision comes on the heels of widely publicized new data showing that the Chinese fertility rate in 2020 was only 1.3 per woman, which is similar to that of Japan, at 1.36 in 2019, and notably lower than that of the United States at 1.7.
But a below-replacement fertility rate is only one part of China’s demographic problem. A second issue is the sheer size of its older population. Before 1971, Chinese family-planning policies were pro-natal, restricting access to contraceptives and family-planning education.