生育政策调整势在必行

Policy and the Demographic Hinge

30年来，中国人口形势发生了重大变化。改变现行生育政策，只是回到常态。

A nationwide one-child policy lowered China's birth rate over the past 30 years. And the nation's population will peak within the next decade, ushering in a variety of challenges ranging from a labor shortage to the complications tied to a growing contingent of senior citizens. Moreover, China's birth figures have been skewed by some officials who manipulate statistics to meet policy goals and rely on inadequate survey bases. Lacking the support of sound data, policymakers have continued operating under assumptions that do not reflect real demographic trends. The nation's huge population overall has fooled many into false hopes and deflected attention away from an urgent need to hedge against an aging society with looming labor shortages. The longer China delays change, the less flexibility it will have in the future.