The ‘Invisible Wall’ Amplifying China’s Population Doom Loop

December 24, 2024

The PRC flag flying in the foreground and a city in the background

(Wall Street Journal) – A two-tier system that has long made workers leave offspring behind in villages is cutting into birthrates

Even as China’s leaders have looked for ways to lift sagging birthrates, Beijing thought there was one group who would always want to have many children: rural couples.

They were wrong. Research suggests that rural migrant workers have severe reservations about starting a family. And a big reason appears to be China’s household-registration system, which since the 1950s has divided the population into rural or urban and makes it hard for rural workers to take their children with them. (Read More)