Demographics - Page 9

Hayward: China Reverses Population Control Stance, Urges Citizens to Be Fruitful and Multiply

China’s shifting position on population control was signaled this week by a new postage stamp showing a happy family of pigs with three piglets – a strong signal to a populace long forced to have only one child per family and then grudgingly permitted to have two. The message was then transmitted even more clearly by a full-page article in a state-run newspaper mourning “the impact of low birth rates on the economy” and urging citizens to do something about it.

China welcomed 17.86 million new children in 2016, an annual increase of 7.9 percent, with