According to a new survey released by the recruitment website Zhaopin, 67% of working women with one child don't want a second, up from 50% in 2014, The New York Times reports. In addition, the survey found 40% of childless women don't want any kids at all, up from 21% in 2016.
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China ended its one-child policy and became a 'demographic time bomb' anyway
China's one-child policy lasted more than 35 years from 1979 to 2015, but many couples still have no plans to make their families any bigger.
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That especially makes sense in a country like China, where the one-child policy lasted more than 35 years, from 1979 to 2015. The economy boomed during that time, mainly as a result of slowed population growth, but now there is an abundance of senior citizens and too few workers to support them.
32.5% saw their salaries decline after having kids. That's up from 24.2% of women surveyed in 2016. In addition, 36.1% said they'd been demoted after having kids in 2017, while 26.6% said the same in 2016.
China's government is aware of the demographic time bomb, although it has limited its mission of raising the fertility rate to marketing and advertising. Some local organizations have been using the slogan " target="_blank"Doing it starts with me." Meanwhile, countries like Singapore and Turkey offer cash incentives to families to have more kids.
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Generally, experts are skeptical these gimmicks can work in the long run. In Japan, which is widely considered another demographic time bomb, many say the only solution is to make work-life balance easier for women and be more accommodating of families.
If China wants to defuse its own demographic time bomb, it may need to forge a similar path.
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