China to stick to its national family planning policy but seek improvements

BEIJING - China will stick to its national family planning policy, but improve its policies in aspects like reproduction, migration and gender equality to achieve a more balanced and sustainable population development, a senior official has said.

“A comprehensive plan will be formulated to realize a healthy population growth, improve levels of government competence, optimise population structure and guide rational population distribution,” the China Daily quoted Li Bin, Director of the National Population and Family Planning Commission, as saying.

Under the policy over the past three decades, the country has made a historic transition from one featuring a high birth rate and high population growth rate to one with a low birth rate and low rate of population growth.

“That hasn’t come easy, and thanks to people’s great understanding it has helped China achieve rapid economic growth and the gradual establishment of a social welfare system,” Bin said.

Bin said that keeping the birth rate low is still the priority given the country’s large population and relatively scarce natural resources.

She also said that the policy would include more incentives, such as government subsidies for families who abide by the policy.

In the next five years, China’s urban population is set to overtake its rural population due to massive rural-to-urban migration. (ANI)