Implications of an Unlimited Fertility Policy in China: Lessons from Low Fertility and Population Aging in Japan and Korea

Abstract

In 2016 China began implementing a new population strategy after having maintained a one-child policy for 35 years. This paper draws on the lessons we can learn about low fertility and population aging in Japan and South Korea to consider the implications of the newly announced ‘universal two-child’ policy in China. Japan, Korea and China share many socio-cultural characteristics and have undergone similar processes with respect to low fertility and population aging at different periods of time. Many scholars argue that China’s family planning program has greatly reduced China’s fertility level, but the effects of other socioeconomic factors have, in fact, had a greater impact on the reduction of the fertility rate than the one-child policy had. Considering the effects of the fertility policy that limits the number of births in China and the lessons we can get from unsuccessful fertility boosting measures in Japan and Korea, this paper suggests that a fertility policy that puts no limits on births should be adopted in China.