(Wall Street Journal) – This Lunar year, the year of the dragon, is seen as an auspicious one for marriage and births in Chinese culture. Nonetheless, 2024 births are expected to drop below 8 million, less than half the number in 2015, the last year of China’s one-child policy.

China’s fertility rate is hovering just above one birth per woman, well below the 2.1 needed to maintain a stable population. China is now trying to promote a “birth-friendly culture.”

Fushun, whose fertility rate has long been below 1, has lost more than a fifth of its population since 2000. (Read More)