Chen Qibao/Xinhua News Agency/Getty Images
- China's falling birth rate is leading to the closure of many hospital obstetrics departments.
- The fertility decline has forced hospitals to offer other services.
- Despite government incentives to boost birth rates, many young Chinese people are not keen to have kids.
People in China are having fewer babies — so much so that many hospitals in the country have stopped delivery services altogether, according to state-owned The Paper in a Monday report.
The trend appeared to have started last year when some hospitals in China shut their obstetrics department, according to the media outlet, which also reported on the phenomenon in September.
It's unclear exactly how many hospitals have shut their obstetrics department or halted newborn delivery services in the last year.
And hospitals are continuing to shut down obstetrics departments this year.
Hospitals that have shut obstetrics departments this year include the Fifth People's Hospital of Ganzhou City in the southeastern province of Jiangxi and the Jiangshan Hospital of Traditional Medicine in the eastern province of Zhejiang.
The Jiangxi hospital said in its notice its Wechat social media account that the closure was due to the institute's "development plan," while the Zhejiang facility said the decision was made based on business considerations.
The number of maternity hospitals in China dropped to 793 in 2021 from 807 in 2020, according to the most recent available official data.
The closures came as China's population — currently the world's second-largest — fell for a second straight year in 2023, a development that will have profound implications for the world's second-biggest economy.
China has been stepping up measures to encourage marriage, parenthood, and childbearing. They include monetary rewards, subsidies, and even free public transport.
But young people are not particularly keen: official data show China's birth rate fell to a record low of 6.39 births per 1,000 people in 2023, down from 6.77 births per 1,000 people in 2022.
Two Chinese women told BI's Kevin Tan last month that they are resistant to having kids due to the cost and commitment involved.