Weary parents in China say the difficulties of juggling work and childcare in a costly and ultra-competitive society with little help from the state are at the root of the country's dwindling birth rate.

Beijing reported Tuesday that the population shrank last year for the first time in over half a century, deepening a demographic crisis that experts warn could stymie economic growth and pile pressure on public coffers.

Local authorities across China have unveiled a series of measures to encourage child-bearing, including monthly stipends of several hundred yuan for new parents and one-off "birth bonuses".

But those already with kids told AFP that balancing work in China's cut-throat corporate world with a desire to give their offspring the best in life was dissuading many from having multiple children.

"Many households find it extremely difficult to raise one child and can't handle it very well," said Wenjing, a parenting blogger in her late 30s who decried "flimsy" government support.

"With the pandemic, a lot of households really suffered financially. Under these hard circumstances, many people decided not to have any more kids," she said.

"I think whatever policies released now will be very insubstantial."

China ended its draconian one-child policy in 2016 and then in 2021 allowed couples to have up to three children.

Major cities including Beijing and Shanghai have extended maternity leave to up to 158 days, while health authorities last year rolled out guidelines requiring local governments to provide nurseries, albeit for a fee.

But many obstacles remain, with no breastfeeding facilities at most workplaces and unmarried women barred from freezing their eggs.

A place in a private kindergarten can cost anywhere between 5,000 yuan ($740) and 20,000 yuan a month in Beijing, according to the Asia Society Policy Institute.

Many urban youth also live far from their extended families, cutting off a traditional source of childcare.

- 'Lower standards' -

For Nancy, a young Beijing mother in her early 30s who works in e-commerce, managing work and childcare is a Herculean task.

"I can't balance it at all," she told AFP.

"If you want to breastfeed the child then you basically have to give up work," she said.

"But because of our situation, we cannot give up our jobs."

Social expectations about how children should be raised also play a role, she said, with ambitious parents keen to make sure their kids get the best.

Women were often forced to choose between the ideal of what good parenting means in modern China and having a career.

"If you have lower standards then perhaps you won't be as tired, but everyone mostly raises their kids in a meticulous way," Nancy added.

"If you insist on leaving work at five to look after your child, less work may get assigned to you and you will be surpassed by your colleagues."

Hordes of parents rely on family support networks -- elderly relatives have traditionally played an essential role in raising children.

"The ability of our generation to go to work is basically through the exploitation of our grandparents, who help us raise our children for a few years," Nancy said.

- 'I don't do any parenting' -

Ivy Meng, in her early 30s, told AFP her young son was "mostly raised by his grandparents" during the pandemic, when schools were shut and she and her husband continued to work full-time.

When it came to choosing between work and time with her child during the week, she chose the former.

"I really don't do any parenting," she said.

"I return home very late each night and don't see my son much."

She told AFP she is one of the lucky ones -- many young Chinese women simply do not have such support networks readily available.

"A lot of the time, their husbands don't want to shoulder the responsibility of parenting and their parents or in-laws are not willing to help," she said.

Experts say much more needs to be done to support young parents and reduce the cost of raising kids.

For many Chinese, the pressures are currently just too great.

"No matter how much the government gives me or if they offer a better environment, I wouldn't choose to have more kids," Nancy said.

"It's not something that can be solved financially."

China's population shrinks for first time in more than 60 years
Beijing (AFP) Jan 17, 2023 - China's population shrank last year for the first time in more than six decades, official data showed Tuesday, as the birth rate slows in the face of mounting financial pressures and shifting social attitudes.

The world's most populous country is facing a looming demographic crisis as its workforce ages, which analysts warn could stymie economic growth and pile pressure on strained public coffers.

Analysts point to the soaring cost of living -- as well as a growing number of women in the workforce and seeking higher education -- as reasons behind the slowdown.

"Who dares to have kids?" a Shanghai resident in his thirties said Tuesday.

"The unemployment rate is so high, Covid destroyed everything, there's nothing we can do. Next year we'll have declining growth again."

The mainland Chinese population stood at around 1,411,750,000 at the end of 2022, the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) reported, a decrease of 850,000 from the end of the previous year.

The number of births was 9.56 million, the NBS said, while the number of deaths stood at 10.41 million.

The last time China's population declined was in the early 1960s, when the country was battling the worst famine in its modern history, a result of the disastrous Mao Zedong agricultural policy known as the Great Leap Forward.

China ended its strict one-child policy -- imposed in the 1980s owing to fears of overpopulation -- in 2016 and began allowing couples to have three children in 2021.

But that has failed to reverse the demographic decline for a country that has long relied on its vast workforce as a driver of economic growth.

"The population will likely trend down from here in coming years," Zhiwei Zhang of Pinpoint Asset Management said.

"China cannot rely on the demographic dividend as a structural driver for economic growth," he added.

"Economic growth will have to depend more on productivity growth, which is driven by government policies."

- 'A lot of pressure' -

The one-child policy meant Chinese people got used to smaller families, Xiujian Peng, a researcher at Australia's University of Victoria, told AFP.

And for those who were only children as a result of the policy, "there's a lot of pressure when it comes to taking care of your parents and improving your quality of life in the future", a young woman in Beijing told AFP.

For those who do have children, balancing work and child-rearing can be an impossible task.

"For many women, having a child means that they have to give up on a lot of things they wanted to do," Nancy, a 32-year-old e-commerce worker, explained.

News of the population decline quickly trended on China's heavily censored internet.

"Without children, the state and the nation have no future," one comment on the Twitter-like Weibo service read.

"Having children is also a social responsibility," another comment from a well-known "patriotic" influencer read.

But others again pointed to the difficulties of raising children in modern China.

"I love my mother, I will not be a mother," said one.

"No one reflects on why we do not want to have (children) and do not want to get married," another said.

- 'Policy package needed' -

Independent demographer He Yafu also pointed to "the decline in the number of women of childbearing age, which fell by five million per year between 2016 and 2021" -- a consequence of the ageing of the population -- as a reason for the low birth rate.

Many local authorities have already launched measures to encourage couples to have children.

The southern megacity of Shenzhen, for example, now offers birth bonuses of up to 10,000 yuan (around $1,500) and pays allowances until the child is three years old.

But analysts argue much more needs to be done.

"A comprehensive policy package that covers childbirth, parenting, and education is needed to reduce the cost of child-raising," researcher Peng told AFP.

"Women's job insecurity after giving birth should be addressed particularly."

The Chinese population could decline each year by 1.1 percent on average, according to a study by the Shanghai Academy of Social Sciences that was updated last year and shared with AFP.

China could have only 587 million inhabitants in 2100, less than half of today, according to the most pessimistic projections of that team of demographers.

And India is set to dethrone China this year as the most populous country in the world, according to the United Nations.

"A declining and ageing population will be a real concern for China," Peng said.

"It will have a profound impact on China's economy from the present through to 2100."

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China's population shrinks for first time in over 60 years
Beijing (AFP) Jan 17, 2023
China's population shrank last year for the first time in more than six decades, official data showed Tuesday, as the world's most populous country faces a looming demographic crisis. The nation of 1.4 billion has seen birth rates plunge to record lows as its workforce ages, in a rapid decline that analysts warn could stymie economic growth and pile pressure on strained public coffers. The mainland Chinese population stood at around 1,411,750,000 at the end of 2022, Beijing's National Bureau of ... read more