Aspects of the demographic policy of the People’s Republic of China in 1949–2023

The article is devoted to the aspects of the demographic policy of the People’s Republic of China from 1949 to 2023. Based on the population censuses data, legislative acts and the results of a study by Chinese scientists, the author identifies three main periods of birth control policy: 1) from 1949 to the 1970s — absence of a consistent unified state policy in the field of childbearing; 2) from the 1970s to 2015 — birth control, implementation of the course on a one-child family (anti-natalism); 3) from 2015 — lifting of the restrictions on the birth of a second, and from 2021 — the third child in the family, stimulating fertility (pronatalism). Family planning has had a positive impact on the economic development of the Chinese society and improvement of the quality of life of people. In addition to the positive aspects, the current demographic situation in China is characterized by a number of problems, of which the most relevant are aging of the population, gender imbalance and decrease in the share of people of working age. Changes in the population structure caused changes in the demographic policy of the People’s Republic of China: the transition from anti-natalism to pronatalism. Currently, the State is foced on developing a set of legislative, socio-economic, cultural and educational measures aimed at providing material support to families with children, expanding the network of preschool institutions, increasing the duration of maternity leave, and promoting traditional family values. The amount of social assistance depends on the number of children in the family and expands with the birth of each subsequent child. The author believes that in the future it will be possible not only to increase measures to stimulate fertility, but also to expand assistance to single-child families, improve the qualitative characteristics of the population, that ultimately should alleviate the current problems of population aging, gender imbalance and decrease in the proportion of people of working age.

demographic policy, demographic transition, anti-natalism, pronatalism, new forms of family and marriage, gender imbalance, aging of the population