China’s Birth Rates Fall in Several Regions in 2018: China Daily

March 22, 2019

(Reuters) – China’s birth rate in several regions, including the capital Beijing, fell again in 2018, the official China Daily said on Friday, despite government efforts to encourage couples to have more children. Alarmed by the rapid aging of its population, China relaxed its controversial “one-child policy” in 2016, allowing all couples to have two children instead of just one. The change has failed to reverse what demographers say is a long-term trend of falling birth rates fueled by growing prosperity and concerns about the high cost of raising children.