China moves to boost its birthrate 

After decades of limiting most families to just one child, China’s decision-making Politburo is allowing couples to have up to three children, after data showed a dramatic decline in births

Number of births (millions)
0.0 Fertility (births per woman)

Deng Xiaoping
Xi Jinping 

20.2

1961: 12.0
1959-61: Famine kills 15-30 million people during Mao Zedong’s Great Leap Forward

Mao Zedong 1963: 29.8

1970-76: Mao’s “Late, Long and Few” birth control campaign – two children for urban families, three for rural – cuts population by half
 
1970: 27.5

1976: 18.6

1979: 17.3
1979: Leader Deng Xiaoping introduces one-child policy to curb China’s rapidly growing population

1987: 25.3

1995: 20.6
1990s: Fertility drops below replacement level of 2.1 births per woman

2015: 16.6 2020: 12.0
2015: President Xi Jinping scraps one-child policy, 5 replacing it with two-child limit

2020: Average number of births falls to 1.3

2020: 12.0


1950 1960 1970 1980 1990 2000 2010 20
5.5 6.2 6.3 4.8 3.0 2.5 2.8 1.8 1.5 1.5 1.5 1.5 1.3
0 -5 -10 -15 -20 -25 -30
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Sources: Bloomberg, UN, National Geographic Pictures: Associated Press © GRAPHIC NEWS