In China, they proposed to reduce the working day of young people to increase the birth rate

The author of the initiative is convinced that after discharging young people, the state will provide them with free time to “fall in love and reproduce their offspring.” His colleague, meanwhile, advocates the introduction of sex education classes in nursery schools. Notably, he recommends teaching the younger generation using Chinese textbooks to avoid “the disruptive influence of the West.” Another MP suggested encouraging single mothers. The fact is that now, in order to receive maternity and other benefits in the PRC, a woman in labor must acquire a spouse – the choice of the people advocated the abolition of the rule.I read about the idea of ​​limiting the opening hours of entertainment establishments in China so that people stay at home and take care of their families.Along the way, MPs have recommended supporting college students who want to have children while earning a master’s or doctorate. If this initiative is adopted, young parents will be allowed to adjust their school calendar, as well as provide them with maternity and other benefits previously unavailable.CompetentlyKirill Babaev, director of the Institute of China and Modern Asia of the Russian Academy of Sciences:The Chinese authorities are very concerned about the demographic problem. The country’s demographic decline is becoming a dangerous trend for the economy, and the state is somehow trying to balance the level of the working population and restore the birth rate. It should be noted that these are natural problems for a society that continues to get rich quick. Such processes took place in European countries, in Russia: an increase in the standard of living always negatively affects the birth rate. People start having children later and less, because they understand that they don’t need to rely on the younger generation after retirement through their own savings and government assistance. In this sense, China is no exception and is a fairly typical example: a prosperous society gradually abandons the increased level of reproduction.
A lot of initiatives, sometimes quite exotic, aim to solve this problem, but the current initiative concerning the working day is also interesting in that it can also aim to solve the problem of youth unemployment. The fact is that over the years of the pandemic, the unemployment rate in China has increased, today among young people it exceeds 20%. And by limiting the workload of young workers, it is possible to free up jobs and other shifts for unemployed young people. To be honest, I am not sure that this initiative will be accepted, as long as it is only a proposal from the deputies, I have not heard any reaction from the government.In China today, there are a number of different population initiatives, both regionally and nationally. Basically, they aim to stimulate families with the help of various payments, benefits and tax exemptions. At the provincial level, there have been various proposals. So, for example, I read about the idea of ​​limiting the opening hours of entertainment establishments so that people stay home and take care of their families. But these are rather populist movements that have little chance of having a legislative follow-up.The population policy of the PRC provides for a set of clear and well-known measures to increase the birth rate. These are incentive payments like our proven maternity capital, or granting benefits to families with several children – such measures are already being implemented at state level in China. But so far, we have not yet seen any concrete results: the birth stimulation program has just started. I am convinced that a set of measures will have an effect and that China can, if not completely eliminate, at least contain the decline in the birth rate. It will probably be very difficult to return to natural growth, but it is quite possible to contain the population decline. I think that by the end of 2023 we will see the first result of the innovations.