China aims for better-skilled population, to improve childcare

HONG KONG – China needs to focus on education, science and technology to develop a better-skilled population, the state-backed People’s Daily said on Tuesday, adding that the country will strive for a “moderate fertility” level to support economic growth.

Chinese President Xi Jinping recently attended a meeting concerned with population development, it added.

The newspaper described population development as a major event linked to China’s “great rejuvenation”.

Concerned about

China’s first population drop in six decades in 2022

and its rapid ageing, the government has urgently embarked

on measures to lift the country’s birth rate,

including financial incentives and boosting childcare facilities.

State-backed broadcaster CCTV on Tuesday said China will double its number of childcare centres by 2025, with the headline saying: “It is no longer difficult to take care of a baby.”

The number of caregivers per 1,000 people will increase to 4.5 by 2025 from 2.5 in 2022, it added.

Many Chinese women are reluctant to have more than one child or any at all due to the high costs of child-rearing and because the lack of childcare means that becoming a parent often entails giving up one’s career.

Gender discrimination and traditional thinking that places the burden of caring for children mostly on women are still widespread in the country.

The authorities have in recent months increased rhetoric about sharing child-rearing duties, but paternity leave is still limited in most provinces.

Opening up fertility services to unmarried women may help to boost the fertility rate, the government’s political advisers proposed in March. REUTERS