Two-child policy to curb looming worker shortage

Source:chinadaily.com.cn

Shan Juan

Updated: 2016-01-11

Li Shuchun, 4, and his 7-month-old brother Li Shuhan, live in Beijing with their parents who are among the 1.07 million out of 11 million eligible couples applied to have a second child by the end of last year. [Photo by Wang Nina/Provided to chinadaily.com.cn]

China's two-child policy is expected to lead to more than 30 million people joining the work force by 2050 helping curb a looming shortage, according to a senior family planning official.

Wang Pei'an, deputy director of the National Health and Family Planning Commission said the change in policy would help contain a rapidly ageing trend by two percent by 2030, when China's population is expected to peak at 1.45 billion.

According to population scientists, the size of the populace will then begin dwindling and level out at 1.38 billion by 2050.

"The quality of the population, instead of the quantity, matters most in the current situation. We need to improve the quality of the entire population, particularly the work force," he said.

By the end of 2014, the number of people in China over the age of 60 had reached 212 million, accounting for 15.5 percent of the total population. The grey population is expected to rise to 400 million by the middle of this century.