According to the 2023 population data released on the mainland, China's fertility rate hit a record low in 2023, and it has experienced negative growth for two consecutive years, ranking second to last in the world among major economies in the world.
According to data released by the National Bureau of Statistics, the country's population reached 140967 million at the end of 2023, a decrease of 2.08 million compared to the end of 2022.
It is worth mentioning that in 2022, compared with 2021, the country's population will decrease by 850,000, which means that the population of the mainland has been continuously decreasing in the past two years.
In the data of the birth population, Henan and Shandong, as the most populous provinces in the country, only ranked second and third in the birth population, and the first place was occupied by Guangdong and became the "major fertility provinces".
In the column of permanent population, Guangdong also ranks first with 127 million people, an increase of 490,000 compared with 2022, and has been firmly on the throne of "the largest province in Chinese population" for many years.
What is the reason for the collapse of the mainland's fertility rate? Guangdong has been re-elected as a "province with a large population" and a "province with a large number of births", and when the national fertility rate continues to decline, why is Guangdong so keen to have babies?
The burden of a large population
Regarding the number of people in the mainland, there has always been a hot meme on the Internet: Why doesn't China make military service mandatory?
If military service is compulsory in China, then several hills may be full of "Zhang Wei" when the roll call is called, and the whole hill is a cooking class.
In the past, the ancients paid attention to the inheritance of the family, although the medical conditions were relatively poor, resulting in the death of babies and the death of many people, but their fertility efficiency was also very high.
Because of the continuous wars, countless people fled in all directions, and as long as the ancients at that time could eat enough, it was equivalent to living a good life, so people at that time were full of only thinking about having enough to eat.
Therefore, in many idioms in China, such as pot-bellied, full of poems and books, full of complaints, etc., the word belly is used, which means belly and full of food.
There are many types of Chinese cuisine for these reasons, the ancient peasants would try their best to eat and cook all kinds of food, the royal family and nobles tried their best to eat better and eat more varied, while in the West they tried their best to eat burgers, salads and dry bread.
With the development of the times, now our living conditions have become better, everyone can be fed and clothed, but also because of the increasing population, resources have become very tight, and people are crazy about each other.
Similarly, most people are facing the pressure of housing, pension, and raising offspring, so the goal of pursuing has changed from filling their stomachs at the beginning to "full" their wallets.
Only when the wallet is "full" will people have more time and energy to develop the rest of their hobbies, specialties, and even invest in scientific research.
Every year when filling in the college entrance examination, many people often give priority to the employment prospects of the majors they are concerned about, because it is related to whether their future wallets can be "full".
Therefore, one of the reasons for the negative growth of population growth and the declining birth rate is that young people are now under great pressure to live under pressure, and they are facing pressure from housing, pension, and post-childbirth support.
Many people are slowly delaying the age of childbearing as much as possible, and many people even keep the idea of not having children, and this is just one of the reasons for the plummeting fertility rate.
Guangdong "can live" more "dare to live"
Before talking about other reasons why many people choose to give birth later in addition to the pressure of life, it is even more necessary to say why Guangdong is so "daring to give birth" when the national fertility rate is declining?
Guangdong has maintained the position of the largest province in the country in terms of population for more than ten consecutive years, and just looking at the data of newborns, Guangdong is a province that has been particularly able to "give birth" among all cities in the country.
In 2023 alone, Guangdong will reach 1.03 million, 335,000 and 420,000 more than Henan and Shandong, and it is also the only province in the country with a birth population of more than 1 million for four consecutive years.
Among the many cities in Guangdong Province, the birth rate of Guangzhou, Shantou, Dongguan and other cities far exceeds the national average birth rate, which means that Guangdong's ability to "give birth" is really in full bloom throughout the province.
The main reason why Guangdong is so able to "live" and dare to "live" is its permanent population, which also includes a large number of people from other provinces who have migrated here.
In 2023 alone, more than 100,000 people have chosen to migrate and settle in Guangdong, which means that one out of every 10 newborns born in the country will come from Guangdong.
More and more young people are choosing to go out and explore, and many cities in Guangdong, most of them are in the Pearl River Delta region, and the number of permanent residents in these areas is much higher than the actual number of people in the household registration.
Therefore, Guangdong's fertility rate continues to maintain the first place in the country, which is inseparable from the large number of permanent residents and the migration of a large number of people to settle in Guangdong, and the traditional concept of the local people is also a very important factor.
In Shantou, Zhanjiang and other places in Guangdong, the local fertility culture is very strong, whether it is the older generation or the young people, influenced by the concept of family and other aspects, they have always been more positive about childbearing.
In addition, in order to make young people willing to have children, Guangdong Province has also introduced many measures, such as targeted measures for housing, employers, medical care, etc., to help young people give birth.
In the mainland, the rapid economic development is indispensable due to the number of people, especially in Guangdong, affected by the concept of childbirth, many families are even more enthusiastic about having more children.
However, Guangdong is not the only region that wants to increase the fertility rate on the mainland, but due to various reasons, young people in many other regions are reluctant to have children, and even more and more young people are unwilling to get married, or marry later.
Due to the impact of the three-year pandemic, from a short-term perspective, the number of births and fertility rates in recent years may show signs of a small rebound.
This is due to the fact that many families abandoned their original family plans during the epidemic, and the number of new couples getting married has also ushered in an increasing trend after the epidemic is over, but this rebound may not last long.
Because the cost of childbearing is too high, and many people are burdened with housing and other living pressures, the low fertility rate may continue to be a difficult trend to reverse in the long run.
In order to encourage childbirth, the mainland has also opened up the three-child policy, and provided guarantees in all aspects from childbirth, parenting, etc., but it will still take some time to fully implement, but the continued sluggish fertility rate is not only due to these aspects.
Can depopulation do miracles?
Behind the continued low fertility rate, there are countless young people's voices, and the decline in the fertility rate is not due to the popularization of education, which leads to more open-mindedness.
What is it that makes young people slowly resist having children? There is a deeper reason behind this.
In the past, the idea of preference for sons over daughters led to many families being in a situation of overbirth, in order to give birth to a boy, they ended up giving birth to one girl after another, and in the end every family had four or five or more children.
Nowadays, young people are getting more and more educated, and the idea of preference for sons over daughters is slowly being abandoned, and even many families are beginning to prefer to have daughters.
After giving birth to a child, you have to bear the pressure of housing, retirement, work, and raising children and adults, so in the face of great pressure, many people begin to resist childbearing.
And now no matter what industry you are in, no matter what position you are engaged in, everyone is rolling up with each other, and on the surface it looks mediocre, but behind the scenes, one is working harder than one, just to compete for the few jobs and opportunities.
Many young people have not been able to completely stabilize their work for several years since graduation, and they can only constantly think about how to make their jobs more stable and have higher incomes, and they have no time to think about major events such as marriage and childbirth, and they don't even dare to think about it.
If they easily get married and have children, unstable jobs will bring them more pressure in life, which is the result of the changes in the values and thinking of many young people today.
While the fertility rate is declining, the aging of the population is also intensifying, and now there are nursing homes everywhere in various cities, and the protection for the elderly is becoming more and more perfect, more humane.
In the past, in addition to passing on the family lineage, it may also be for the sake of having children to support one's old age when he is old, but with the more complete protection for the elderly, these problems naturally do not need to be worried, that is, there is no need to raise children to prevent old age.
In response to these problems, some people say that it would be good if the population decreased, and if the population is small, the employment competitiveness will be smaller, and the pressure on life will also be reduced, and people will not be involved in each other.
Naturally, some people counter that when the population is large, there will be cheap labor, and when the population decreases, some of the original structures may collapse.
And with the development of science and technology, more and more jobs, the original workers have been replaced by robots, so the decrease in population does not necessarily solve these problems.
In the past, the rapid development of the economy may have relied on the number of piles and the number of people to bring dividends, but now it may be the quality of the pile, and only through quality can we win.
Therefore, there are various reasons behind the continued low fertility rate, not only the pressure of life, so we do not need to be too anxious and worried about these situations.
The quantity and quality of the population are also closely related to national strength, and the continuous decline of the total population will also affect economic growth.
In daily life, we only need to live step by step, according to our original rhythm, to make our life more wonderful and think.
At the same time, we also look forward to the introduction of more good policies to encourage childbirth, and better solve today's fertility problems from various perspectives.
Source source
Global Times' Latest! 2023 Birth Data Release》
https://baijiahao.baidu.com/s?id=1788308835087703978&wfr=spider&for=pc
Top News "Chinese Population Situation Report 2024: Birth Population and Fertility Rate May Have a Small Rebound"
https://baijiahao.baidu.com/s?id=1796814684052301366&wfr=spider&for=pc
Jinyang.com, "Why is Guangdong so keen on "giving birth to babies" once again won the double champion of "large population province" and "large fertility province"
https://baijiahao.baidu.com/s?id=1798435362910555509&wfr=spider&for=pc
China Times "The national population has decreased by 850,000, the birth rate has fallen below 1% for three consecutive years, and real money in many places encourages the birth of babies"
https://baijiahao.baidu.com/s?id=1755346288160374636&wfr=spider&for=pc