China’s declining population worries Xi Jinping, Government Imposes 13 percent VAT on Condoms, elderly population rises to…

China’s total population has declined by 3.4 million. This is the biggest drop since the severe famine of 1960 during the rule of former leader Mao Zedong, bringing the population down to 1.405 billion.

China President Xi Jinping — China’s President Xi Jinping

New Delhi: China had the world’s largest population for many years, but now India has overtaken it. Currently, China is at number two on the list, but its population is declining so rapidly that the Xi Jinping government has become worried. According to the reports, the situation is such that the government is offering parents long parental leave for having children. The government has also said that it will offer 500 dollars per year for three years to parents for every child born. Despite these measures, China’s birth rate fell last year to its lowest level since 1949.

As per the Bloomberg report, Beijing is facing demographic challenges. These conditions persist even though authorities have launched several subsidy schemes to encourage couples to have more children. On Monday, the data released by the National Bureau of Statistics showed that the number of births per 1,000 people has fallen to 5.6.

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This is the lowest level since the founding of the People’s Republic of China. The number of newborns declined by 1.6 million—the largest drop since 2020—bringing the total to 7.9 million. China’s total population has declined by 3.4 million. This is the biggest drop since the severe famine of 1960 during the rule of former leader Mao Zedong, bringing the population down to 1.405 billion.

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Here are some of the key details:

A shrinking workforce and a growing elderly population pose major risks to China’s economy.
As the number of elderly people increases, the ratio of workers to retirees is falling
This is putting additional pressure on an already underfunded pension system.
The Chinese government has implemented several pro-birth policies in recent years
The Chinese government has included extending maternity and paternity leave and simplifying marriage registration.
Under these incentives, couples receive around 500 dollars per year for each child born on or after January 1, 2025, until the child turns three.
From this year, the government has also imposed a 13 percent value-added tax on contraceptive medicines and devices, including morning-after pills and condoms.

Having a child has become costly

As per He Yafu, the independent demography expert, the amount of government subsidy is “too low” to bring about a meaningful increase in the birth rate. He attributed the decline to young people’s reluctance to marry and the decreasing number of women of reproductive age, which fell by 16 million between 2020 and 2025.

This shrinking pool of potential mothers is partly a result of the one-child policy, which hollowed out the demographic base for future growth before it ended in 2015.