Want More Babies? Care For Mothers First
New births in China last year fell to their lowest in almost six decades. Pro-natalist policies there and elsewhere can start by improving women’s lives.
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Photographer: China Photos/Getty ImagesChina’s once-in-a-decade census shows what most have long suspected: Efforts to encourage more births after decades of restricting families to one child are falling on deaf ears. It’s not a unique problem: South Korea, with the world’s lowest fertility rate, saw its population decline for the first time on record in 2020. Even the United States, comparatively young, saw its birth rate drop yet again last year.
Nudging citizens to procreate is easier in theory than in practice and approaches abound — most of them unsuccessful. Financial help for would-be parents, whether in the form of one-off payments, subsidized childcare, tuition and even housing support, is necessary. It’s just not always sufficient when it comes to securing a more sustainable birth rate over time. Beijing and much of fertility-challenged East Asia may well have to tackle something less tangible: Reducing the price women pay for opting into matrimony and maternity. That means encouraging divided labor at home and fostering equal opportunities after marriage and children, as well as before.