BEIJING: Twenty-five-year-old Grace and her husband are set on staying child-free, resisting pressure from their parents and society to produce offspring, even as China strives to boost its flagging birth rate.
A decade since China scrapped its stringent one-child policy and implemented a two-child policy in January 2016, the nation is dealing with a looming demographic crisis.
The country’s population has shrunk for three straight years, with the United Nations predicting it could fall from 1.4 billion today to 633 million by 2100.
There were just 9.54 million births in China in 2024 — half the number than in 2016 — and concerns about the shrinking and ageing population have been growing as couples choose to buck traditional Chinese norms.
More young people like Grace, who refers to herself and her husband as DINKs — or “dual income no kids” — have either sworn against having children at all or are putting it off for the next few years.
These couples’ reasons run the gamut from high child-rearing costs to career concerns.
Grace, who asked to be identified by her English name over fears of repercussions, said she needed to have a decent income and “some savings” before starting a family.
Without these conditions, “I wouldn’t even consider having kids”, the content creator added.
The term “DINK” has gone viral on Chinese social media, including Xiaohongshu, where its hashtag has received more than 731 million views, sparking differing views on the subject.
“If I were to widely publicise the fact that I’m a DINK and talk about how comfortable my life is, there would definitely be many people who wouldn’t be happy about it,” Grace said.
Changing attitudes
Chinese authorities have rolled out pronatalist incentives after ending their one-child policy — which had been in place for more than three decades to address poverty and overpopulation.
Top leaders have pledged more childcare relief, including subsidies to parents to the tune of $500 per year for every child under the age of three, state media reported in July.
Beijing also slapped a value-added tax on condoms and other contraceptives in January.
But experts say China, which was overtaken by India as the world’s most populous nation in 2023, still faces significant hurdles in boosting its birth rate.
“The number of people choosing not to marry or not to have children is increasing, and fertility intentions among the younger generation are weak,” He Yafu, an independent Chinese demographer, said.
Cultural constraints have limited the long-term effectiveness of China’s pronatalist measures, said Pan Wang, an associate professor at Australia’s University of New South Wales.
“The one-child policy fundamentally reshaped family norms and also people’s lifestyles, because many people, especially the one-child generation, were used to and often prefer smaller family sizes,” Wang said.
Published in Dawn, January 6th, 2026
