Can the Chinese government arrest its ageing problem? | Explained Today World News

The story so far: The Chinese population has been consistently declining since 2022. As per the UN, by 2050 the Chinese population will be around 1.3 billion from a peak of 1.4 billion. This also means that the ratio of young to old will change and that around 40% of the population will be over 60. The oft repeated idea of China getting older before it gets richer seems unavoidable. In the hopes of avoiding this very challenge, Chinese President Xi Jinping had abolished the one-child policy in 2016 and replaced it with a two-child policy. In 2021, he extended it to a three-child policy. However, the decline has continued.

What policies did they implement?

There has been a long list of policies which the Chinese government has implemented to mitigate the ageing challenge. The most recent one was implemented on January 1, 2026. The government added 13% VAT on contraceptives and condoms. In 2025, the government announced a subsidy of 3,600 yuan (equivalent to $500 dollars) for new parents for the first three years.

There has also been a waiver of fees for students in the last year of kindergarten while also reducing the fees of kindergartens in the private sector. Moreover, the salaries of kindergarten teachers have been included in fiscal guarantees to ensure that they are timely.

Beijing also raised the retirement age last year. For men, this stands now at 63 (up from 60) and for women it is 58 (up from 55 in white collar jobs) and 55 (up from 50 in blue collar jobs). This was adopted not only to manage the declining workforce but also to postpone the added strain on the government with regards to pension funds. The Chinese Academy of Social Sciences (CASS) has predicted that at the current rate the state pension fund will run out of money by 2035, due to lesser number of people joining the workforce. China has also increased the age cut-off for certain civil service exams from 35 to 38 (people with masters and doctoral degrees can apply till the age of 43). There is also a government backed campaign to encourage young people to marry and have children and to build a “birth-friendly society”. However, the Chinese government continues to insert itself in the lives of its citizens as there have been instances of officials calling young married women asking their menstruation dates and their plans of having children. There is also an effort to reduce the ‘bride price’ (transfer of money from groom’s family to the bride’s) too. Moreover, the government has plans to introduce love courses for single students in universities.

What are the challenges?

For Mr. Xi, increasing birthrates is linked to the ‘rejuvenation of the Chinese nation’. At the 20th Party Congress, Mr. Xi asserted, “We will improve the population development strategy, establish a policy system to boost birth rates, and bring down the costs of pregnancy and childbirth, childrearing and schooling”. Further, in a 2021 speech, Mr. Xi argued that Chinese women should be “good wives, good mothers”, and “link their future and destiny with the future and destiny of the motherland”. As per Xi Jinping, the onus to manage the Chinese population, rising or falling, is on the shoulders of women.

While on the surface it seems that the Chinese government has been undertaking a myriad of steps to boost child birth, they all seem to be failing. The one-child policy, rising costs of living and healthcare, the high cost of bearing and raising children, high unemployment, all play a crucial role when it comes to family planning. The Chinese government is also struggling to manage the existing gender gap. During the one-child policy, there was a push for bearing male children. There are now 30 million more men then women in China.

Gunjan Singh is Associate Professor at OP Jindal Global University.