Ahead of the Two Sessions... Will China Completely Abolish Birth Restrictions?

Voices advocating for the complete abolition of birth restrictions are emerging ahead of the Two Sessions (National People's Congress and Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference), one of China's largest political events. The main argument is that it is inappropriate for the state to limit the number of children amid a sharp decline in birth rates, and that the right to family planning should be returned to families.

According to the state-run Global Times (GT) on the 26th, Xiong Xuilong, a member of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference, argued that limiting the number of children per family is inappropriate and called for the complete abolition of birth restrictions. In a draft proposal to be submitted to the Two Sessions scheduled to open next week (on the 4th), he also suggested that support benefits related to childbirth should be extended to unmarried parents and single parents.

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He also proposed measures to reduce the social costs borne by companies due to women's childbirth. This included improving the cost-sharing mechanism for maternity leave, significantly reducing social security costs incurred during maternity leave, and extending the prenatal examination period. Xiong explained that companies employing women of childbearing age should also be granted tax reductions. Additionally, to alleviate childcare burdens, he appealed to local governments to provide subsidies for families with multiple children and to accelerate the construction of public kindergartens and nursing homes.

China's "one-child policy," introduced in 1978 to curb excessive population growth, was relaxed to a "two-child policy" in 2015. Subsequently, in 2021, family planning policies were further eased to allow up to three children. According to a statistical bulletin released by Chinese health authorities in October last year, the proportion of third children among newborns in 2022, the year following the policy implementation, rose by 0.5 percentage points to 15% compared to the previous year. Xiong proposed that the government should abolish the very act of specifying the number of children allowed to be born.

According to the National Bureau of Statistics, China's population last year was recorded at 1.4967 billion, a net decrease of 2.08 million compared to the previous year. The number of births last year was 9.02 million, marking the lowest level since the founding of the People's Republic of China in 1949. The birth rate was 6.39 per 1,000 people. In the same year, the number of deaths was 11.1 million, with a mortality rate of 7.87 per 1,000 people.

The state-run Global Times explained, "At the Two Sessions, policies to improve birth rates will be a key topic among representatives," adding, "In provincial-level regions where local Two Sessions have concluded, all representatives were paying more attention to issues such as marriage, childbirth, and the protection of minors."

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