Unveiling China's Fertility Dilemma: Analyzing Risk Factors and Their Global Implications

Abstract: The National Bureau of Statistics of China has announced in 2021 that the country has formally entered the stage of low fertility rate, reaching a historically low of 1.3. Such low birth is far below the replacement level of 2.1 which is needed for maintaining a sustainable population, implying the possibility for China to start a significant demographic shift. Several key factors have contributed to this decline. Factors behind the problem includes Chinas historical policy implementation, socioeconomic factors including the rise of housing price and cost of upbringing and social factors including waning of social norms and ascent of gender equity. Such phenomenon serves as also valuable insights for analyzing global fertility intention for countries like Switzerland, the United States and South Korea. As all global policymakers seek to address the problem of unstable and declining fertility rates and waning fertility intention, the Chinese case could provide intriguing example as supportive evidence.