Page 154 - IJPS-11-3

International Journal of
Population Studies Family planning and its economic outcomes

public finances, and providing employers with a smoother help reduce some of the burden of caretaking for both the
transition in replacing retiring workers. In addition, it new birth and old. Therefore, while it is unlikely that the
improves workforce quality and reduces worker-to-retiree fertility rate will significantly increase in the short term,
ratios in China (Feng et al., 2019). If the retirement age with the implementation of all these pronatalist policies
were raised to 65 for both men and women, the proportion and progress in technology, it could potentially lead to
of the retired population would drop from 22.3% to 13.5%, a future shift from a declining fertility toward a gradual
and the old-age dependency ratio would decrease from upward trend.
37.4 to 19.7 retirees per 100 workers in 2020.
Acknowledgments
In sum, China’s population aging process is markedly
different from that of Western nations, as its demographic We gratefully acknowledge Lakehead University for
transition has occurred within just one generation. The funding our publication.
Chinese government introduced the “three-child” policy Funding
in 2021 in the hopes of initiating a baby boom to address
the twin crises of an aging population and labor force None.
shortages. However, transitioning from a baby bust to a
baby boom requires meeting many of the preconditions Conflict of interest
mentioned earlier. The baby boom in Western societies The authors declare that they have no competing interests.
between 1946 and 1965 was an exceptional period that
deviated from the general trend of demographic transition. Author contributions
It was primarily driven by economic optimism following Conceptualization: Hongyan Liu
World War II (Kerr & Beaujot, 2016). In addition, the Data curation: Hongyan Liu
Western baby boom relied on the sacrifice of women’s Formal analysis: Jianye Liu
independence, as many women remained at home to Methodology: Hongyan Liu
manage households and fulfill traditional roles while men Writing – original draft: Jianye Liu
were the breadwinners. Thus, the Western baby boom Writing – review & editing: Hongyan Liu
was predicated on both favorable economic and cultural
conditions. Ethics approval and consent to participate
In contemporary China, although it is challenging Not applicable.
for women to return to traditional roles of managing the
household and leaving the labor market, it is still possible Consent for publication
for the government to develop various welfare policies Not applicable.
to address the economic demands of childbearing, based
on successful policies having been implemented in other Availability of data
countries. In Sweden (Swedish Institute, 2024), for example, Not applicable.
when a child is born or adopted, parents are entitled to
480 days of paid parental leave. Each parent is entitled to 240 References
of those days; a single parent is entitled to a full 480 days.
Parents can also choose to transfer up to 45 days of their Attané, I. (2002). China’s family planning policy: An overview
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if a parent works in Sweden and needs to take days off to
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Swedish Social Insurance Agency. There are also policies Attané, I. (2016). Second child decisions in china. Population and
geared toward addressing the aging population, such as the Development Review, 42(3):519-536.
Proximity Housing Grant practiced in Singapore (Housing https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1728-4457.2016.00151.x
& Development Board, 2024). This is a relocation incentive
for children to live closer to their parents ($30,000 to live Basten, S., & Jiang, Q. (2015). Fertility in China: An uncertain
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the advent of the digital age and robots equipped with Limit. The New York Times. Available from: https://www.
advanced AI technology will have a very high potential to nytimes.com/2013/11/16/world/asia/china-to-loosen-its-

Volume 11 Issue 3 (2025) 148 https://doi.org/10.36922/ijps.6859