Policy support required to help boost birth rate

THE NATIONAL Bureau of Statistics disclosed on Thursday that the newly-born population in China last year was 17.23 million, which means the national fertility rate was 1.24 percent, which is even lower than Japan's 1.46 percent. Southern Metropolitan Daily comments:

To spur population growth, China allowed all couples to have a second child in 2016. Usually, the first year after the adjustment of birth policies is expected to witness a marked rise in birth rate. But the fertility rate last year was even lower than the 1.29 percent of 2016.

Although the change to the family planning policy has mitigated the decline of the fertility rate, it has not effectively boosted it.