Adam Minter, Columnist

China’s Baby Boom Needs to Start in the Workplace

The key to increasing fertility to empower women. 

The country's fertility rate peaked under Mao.

Photographer: STR/AFP/Getty Images

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China is home currently to 241 million people over the age of 60, approximately 17 percent of the population. By 2050, the elderly will number around 500 million and account for more than one-third of the population. According to a Monday report by Bloomberg News, the Chinese government has grown so alarmed by these developments that it’s preparing to scrap all limits on the number of children that a family can have. By early next year, the infamous one-child and — more recently — two-child policies should be no more.

QuicktakeChina's Family-Size Limits