In a distressing situation, several hospitals in China have stopped offering newborn delivery services this year due to a drop in the birth rate. Industry experts warned of an "obstetric winter" due to reducing demand. In the last two months, hospitals in several regions, including eastern Zhejiang and southern Jiangxi, announced that they would close their obstetric departments, as per Reuters.
The Fifth People's Hospital of Ganzhou City in Jiangxi announced on its official WeChat account that obstetric services would be suspended from March 11. Moreover, Zhejiang's Jiangshan Hospital of Traditional Medicine announced on its WeChat page that its obstetrics business would stop on February 1.
These concerns are growing as Chinese policymakers struggle with how to boost young couples' desire to have children as authorities face the rising demographic headache of a rapidly aging society.
China's population dropped for a second consecutive year in 2023 as a consequence of a record low birth rate and the COVID-19 death wave after the end of strict lockdown measures. It sparks concerns about long-term effects on the growth potential of the second-largest economy in the world.
The National Bureau of Statistics said last year the total population of China fell by 2.75 million, or 0.2 percent, to 1.409 billion. The most recent available data from China's National Health Commission showed the number of maternity hospitals fell from 807 in 2020 to 793 in 2021. Daily Economic News reports said the plummeting number of newborns meant that it was not possible for many hospitals to keep operating their departments overseeing the new births.
Many women in China are choosing to remain childless due to high childcare and education costs, an unwillingness to marry, or putting their careers on hold in a traditional society where they are still seen as the main caregivers and where gender discrimination remains rife.
Despite authorities rolling out incentives and measures to boost the birth rate, which include expanding maternity leave, financial and tax benefits for having children, and housing subsidies, these trends continue.
Additionally, China is one of the most expensive places in the world to raise a child relative to its gross domestic product per person. Financial news outlet Yicai reported, more babies are being born in hospitals throughout China in the Year of the Dragon, which began on February 10. However, demographers say any bump from a "dragon baby" boom is likely to be short-lived.
(Input from various sources)
(Rehash/Komal Bhoi/MSM)