Wow, talk about cognitive dissonance in the most populated country in the world. They should be giving those women medals of honor.

Good thing that we don't live there.

WTF, surprising since they have a massive overpopulation issue. One would think they would be praised not shamed.

Screw China. ...if my brain is transplanted into a Chinese 18 year old woman I would have my tubes tied to prevent pregnancy

haha, well that makes me a leftover, at my age, and child free!! woooot, I'm pretty happy about that to be honest.

China has also adopted a like dislike social hierarchy where people rate their contact with other people and give points to those who act according to their wishes and deduct points from those that don't. depending on your status you can or cannot gain access to planes trains jobs clubs restaurants etc. this policy becomes mandatory as of 2020. no wonder the rich are all moving although of course the rich can buy points ! Typical !

Interesting article! There seems to be a relationship between education and the number of children women have. The more education, the fewer children. The Chinese would be wise to read some research before making policy. What are they doing, following Trump's lead?

I flashed on the Nazis program where they were breeding for the Fatherland

Well, at least they're not binding their feet. Oh wee, I guess governments just can't stop getting into women's vagina.

This has a historical perspective. When Rome was crumbling the government tried to get people to have more children.However, the populace were struggling just to survive and were astute enough to know more mouths only made problems worse, the birth rate went down. Also, in the US during the depression fertility rates were also lower than elsewhere. Often, when people are struggling the birth rate goes up and one study showed that when people had an expectation of immigration to a wealthier country they would have more children to increase their chances of one hitting the jackpot and sending money back to the family. This is the same idea that people living on the land have; more kids who will help out (but forgetting there are also more to support).

Europe has had a declining birthrate for decades and, surprisingly, Italy had one of the lowest. I see several things at play which also includes China. the population is already straining the natural systems and people with more disposable income don't want to jeopardize that income which is what children will definitely do "lack of time and energy, the expense of raising children and “concerns over career development.”. Also, Increased education and availability of family planning lowers the birth rate.

The one-child policy led to an excess of males which always presents problems. In the future, mechanization will remove low skilled jobs and could bring a higher unemployment rate.

Governments are often at odds with the citizens on birthrates. A recent newspaper article in a Canadian paper joyously announced the end of the "Birth Dearth".

I'm not opposed to less people having kids. The world is already over populated.

Maybe they've already had their one allotted child and now feel they have gotten to the age that they don't want to have another baby to care for.

That is the kind of thing that happens when the government is led by dogmatic true believers in an ideology.

Old habits are hard to break .. also, they might realize that the population explosion is a problem for the planet.