In a development that is likely to trouble Chinese authorities as they try to boost the country's declining number of new births, China's fertility rate is estimated to have dropped to a record low of 1.09 in 2022, a state-backed newspaper reported.
A Chinese political advisor will raise a proposal to gradually open egg-freezing access to unmarried women and include infertility treatment in the public health insurance system, as the country has seen a negative population growth for the first time in 61 years.
While many local authorities in China have rolled out initiatives to encourage more births, the surveys show that current incentives are not enough to move couples to have a third child.