China says 2-child policy to add 30 million workers by 2050

Most couples in China want to have two children once the national policy allowing a second child is implemented next year, China’s top health authority said Tuesday.

The change in policy is expected to mean over 30 million more people in the labour force by 2050 and two percent decrease in the share of elderly of Chinese population, Xinhua quoted Wang Peian, deputy head of the NHFPC, as saying.

The one-child policy went into effect in the late 1970s to prevent population growth from spiraling out of control.

About half of the women of child-bearing age expected to become eligible for having a second child will be in their 40s, Wang said.

Prior to the introduction of the two-child policy, more than 38 per cent of the population were expected to be older than 60 by 2050. Last year, China saw 16.87 million births, and the easing of the policy is expected to boost the annual figure to close to 20 million births, he added.

“The across-the-board two-child policy in the short term will drive consumption for housing, education, healthcare, housekeeping and daily necessities, stimulate investment in relevant sectors and increase job offerings”, he said.

Yuan Xin, a demographer with Tianjin’s  Nankai University who has advised Beijing on family planning policy, said if couples took the opportunity to have two children the policy would “be in place for a long time”.

The poor response to the limited relaxation reportedly prompted the ruling Communist Party of China (CPC) to permit all couples to have a second child in a major policy move last month aimed at over 90 million eligible couples.

Wang said that the new policy had already provided a boost to the maternity industry, which had been performing well in the stock market recently.

“The implementation of a comprehensive two-child policy will help to improve the population structure and promote the balanced development of the population”, Wang said, according to Reuters.

Official data also indicates 76 per cent of all couples conceiving a second child under the new policy will be urban citizens.