Two-child policy to increase potential economic growth rate

A Chinese mom shops for diapers while carrying her baby in a supermarket in Guangzhou, Guangdong province, Jan 23.[Photo/IC]

BEIJING - China's new two-child policy could increase economic growth rate by 0.5 percentage points through reducing China's dependency ratio, said National Health and Family Planning Commission (NHFPC) Tuesday.

The change in policy is expected to mean over 30 million more people in the labor force by 2050 and an decrease of 2 percentage points in the share of elderly of Chinese population, said Wang Peian, deputy head of the NHFPC, in a press conference held on Tuesday in Beijing.

Statistics from the NHFPC shows the population aged between 15 to 64 in China is around 1 billion in 2015 and will reduce to 830 million by 2050.

According to Yang Wenzhuang, head of the Department of Community Family Planning with the NHFPC, the two-child policy will exert positive influence on China's economy in the long term as the babies born under the new policy grow into a workforce of high quality by 2050.

In short term, industries related to child-raising, such as maternity medical care, baby formula, child-care services, have been expected to grow further and faster in China, added Yang.

A surge in births when the new policy is ratified and implemented next year is expected, while the total population will only slightly increase with its peak to be reached at 1.45 billion in 2029, said Wang.

Official data also indicates 76 percent of all couples conceiving a second child under the new policy will be urban citizens.