China now begging families to have more children

After years of limiting parents in China to just one child, the communist country’s leaders are now begging families to have more. The change in the government’s outlook isn’t because of any new findings on the value and importance families have to our survival, it’s purely economic.
        Their turnabout comes after the recent announcement that China is experiencing its first population decline in 60 years. Its National Bureau of Statistics reported the country had 850,000 fewer people at the end of 2022 than 2021, dropping its total population to 1.4 billion.
        They’re now wringing their hands over what this means for their economy.
        I remember the stories years ago of China’s mandate that couples limit their families to one child. There were even reports of forced abortions if that number was exceeded, as well as abortions based on the child’s sex, with males preferred over female babies.
    The communist leaders are now promoting bigger families with as many as three children after their 1980s one-child policy was instituted to curb their population growth and stimulate the economy, or so they thought.
    The controversial one-child policy ended in 2015 and then the government began “permitting” three children in 2021. However, after so many decades of limiting family size, the population has aged considerably, as well. An NPR story noted that women also may resist the larger family concept in favor of paid employment and pursuit of the ideals they’ve had for so many years.
    Families and children must always be valued. China is certainly learning that lesson now.