The Road to Hell: Is There Really a Material Solution to Birth-Rate Decline?
It’s been an interesting seven days for people who care about birth rates. First, China’s State Council decreed that the government must offer greater support to families if more children are to be born. China currently has one of the world’s lowest fertility rates, about one birth per woman, well below the 2.1 replacement rate needed to maintain a stable population. According to one demographer, Dr. Yi Fuxian, at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, births in 2025 were “roughly the same level as in 1738, when China’s population was only about 100 million.” Reuters reports that, at a meeting held on October 23, the State Council decided “the government should refine policies including those related to marriage, childbirth, child-rearing, and education, and optimize taxation, social security, and housing.” The goal is to make China a “fertility-friendly society.” The pledges, Reuters…