The Guardian-China to hold nationwide survey on population changes as birthrate plummets
October 10, 2023 2 min 331 words
中国计划在2022年生育率创历史新低后进行全国性调查，这是一项紧迫的举措，以应对人口问题。这个消息传递出中国面临的严峻挑战，即人口锐减和迅速老龄化。政府已采取了一系列措施，包括财政激励和扩建托儿设施，以提高国家的出生率。这次全国性调查的范围将覆盖全国的城市和农村地区，旨在更好地规划人口政策。这个计划将有助于“准确及时监测中国人口的发展变化，并为共产党和政府制定国家经济、社会发展和人口相关政策提供依据，”国家统计局表示。中国最后一次进行十年一次的人口普查是在2020年11月进行的，显示出自1950年代首次现代人口调查以来的最慢增长。调查的具体受访人数尚未明确。此次调查将于11月1日开始，政府调查机构将访问家庭收集数据或要求受访者在线填写调查问卷。人口发展常常被与国家的强大和“复兴”联系在一起，而人口下降和市民普遍关注养育子女的困难也成为了国内媒体关注的焦点。高昂的托儿费用和需要中断职业生涯的问题已经使许多女性不愿意生更多子女，甚至不愿意生育。性别歧视和传统的女性抚养子女的刻板印象在全国仍然广泛存在。尽管近几个月来政府加强了共同育儿责任的口号，但大多数省份的陪产假仍然有限。2022年，中国报告称，其14.1175亿人口中减少了大约85万人，标志着自1961年中国大饥荒以来的首次人口减少。这是一个令人担忧的趋势，需要采取有效措施来应对。
China’s National Bureau of Statistics will conduct a nationwide sample survey in November to help better plan population policies, as authorities struggle to boost the country’s flagging birthrate.
Concerned about China’s first population drop in six decades and its rapid ageing, Beijing is urgently trying an array of measures to lift the country’s birthrate including financial incentives and boosting childcare facilities.
The survey’s scope on population changes will focus on urban and rural areas throughout the country, according to state media reports on Tuesday.
The plan will help to “accurately and timely monitor China’s population developmental changes and provide a basis for the Communist party and the government to formulate national economic, social development and population related policies,” the bureau said.
China last conducted its once-in-a-decade census in November 2020 which showed it grew at the slowest pace since the first modern population survey in the 1950s. The number of people who will be surveyed was not specified.
The survey will take place from 1 November when a government surveying agency will visit households to collect the data or ask respondents to fill out the questions online.
Population development has often been linked to the strength and “rejuvenation” of the country in state media amid the declining birthrate and widespread concerns by citizens on the difficulties of raising children.
High childcare costs and having to stop their careers have put many women off having more children or any at all. Gender discrimination and traditional stereotypes of women caring for the children are still widespread throughout the country.
Authorities have in recent months increased rhetoric on sharing the duty of child rearing but paternity leave is still limited in most provinces.
The country reported a drop of roughly 850,000 people for a population of 1.41175 billion in 2022, marking the first decline since 1961, the last year of China’s Great Famine.