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Medical staff check on a newborn baby at a hospital in Handan, China. The country s fertility rate has been dropping for decades. Hu Gaolei/VCG via Getty Images
China’s population still growing, census shows but barely
May. 11, 2021 , 5:15 PM
Ending months of speculation about what its 2020 census would find, China reported today that preliminary data show its population is still growing. But major demographic challenges loom. China’s population will start to shrink in the next few years, the trends suggest, meaning fewer and fewer people in their working prime will have to support a rapidly growing cadre of elderly. That has triggered discussions about how to increase the country’s birth rate, which is far below the replacement level.
As the pandemic enters its second year, many women around the globe have been putting aside plans to have a child – temporarily or indefinitely. Despite initial projections of a baby boom as countries went into lockdown and couples were shuttered at home, more women are deciding not to have children due to age and fertility challenges, financial concerns, or pessimism about the future.
Across the board, the pandemic has highlighted the unique challenges women and their partners face when deciding to conceive. It is also forcing them to reassess their priorities and values when it comes to family.
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