The Possible Reasons for the Declining Fertility Rates in China

Abstract

The low fertility rate is not only a circumstance experienced by developed countries but also in China after 2002. Many social problems occur when the fertility rate is low, so the reasons for the declining fertility rate in China need to be discussed to help to improve. From a macro perspective, scholars have already found several causes including China's public policy, national conditions, as well as world situations, and environmental pressures. But the exploration of reasons from a micro viewpoint is still limited. So the research is aim to collect first-hand material from a real micro angle to search for the reasons for decreasing fertility rate in China based on qualitative analysis using observation and also the interviews of 35 interviewees who were born from 1970 to 2002 by asking two to eight questions person to person. What's more, three controversial measures, illegitimate childbirth, legitimate surrogacy, and legitimate homosexuality that could raise the fertility rate in the Chinese context are also discussed. According to the results, it is suggested that the thoughts and values of marriage and fertility are different from age to age. And the views on marriage and fertility can be diverse in the same age generation, even total opposite opinions in the same generation also exist. But most people have negative or partly negative attitudes to marriage or fertility(including first child or second child), mainly restricted in a kind of social and realistic problems. When it comes to illegitimate childbirth, legitimate surrogacy, and legitimate homosexuality in the Chinese context, most interviewees have neutral or supportive attitudes toward legitimate homosexuality, but partly negative and negative attitudes to illegitimate childbirth, and legitimate surrogacy.