China is facing a population crisis but some women continue to say ‘no’ to having babies

China is facing a population crisis in part due to more women choosing to focus on their careers and personal goals, instead of starting a family.

Already grappling with an aging population and poised to be overtaken by India as the world’s most populous country, China continues to struggle to boost its birth rate.

The Chinese government abolished its one-child policy in 2016 and scrapped childbirth limits in 2021. However, married couples are having fewer children — or choosing to not have any at all, said Mu Zheng, assistant professor at the department of sociology and anthropology at the National University of Singapore. 

“Covid continues to have many negative repercussions and has caused an overall sense of uncertainty towards the future,” Mu told CNBC. “There’s a sense of helplessness that is prohibiting many women from wanting to have children.”

The rising cost of living is also steering more people away from wanting to expand their family, she added.

China’s National Bureau of Statistics reported that the population dipped to 1.412 billion last year from 1.413 billion in 2021. The natural growth rate was negative for the first time since 1960, according to Wind data.

China has a larger population of mothers in the workforce compared with countries in the West, Andy Xie, an independent economist, told CNBC.

“There is a desire to have a career in China and being a stay-home mother is never a goal. It doesn’t even appear on the radar for most women,” Xie said.

As more women attain higher qualifications and rise up the ranks in the workplace, they expect their husbands to earn more than them, according to Xie.

In 2020, female students accounted for almost 42% of doctorate degree enrollment, and a significantly higher number of women enrolled for a master’s degree than men, Statista data showed.

“Men face a tremendous burden as women would demand financial security from them,” and in turn wouldn’t want to get married either, according to Xie who said that “people used to be criticized for being single, but there’s no social stigma against it anymore.” 

Awen, a 31-year-old freelance designer from Shenzhen who would only give her first name, says she’s happy being single right now. All the women who shared their personal experiences for this story were only comfortable sharing their first names.

“Saving money and focusing on my career are my priorities now, I already feel so exhausted after work, I can’t imagine how parents with children feel.”

She said most husbands in China often do not play a pivotal role in a child’s upbringing, and the burden falls entirely on mothers instead.

“Many women don’t want to get married because the housework and babysitting duties will fall on them,” Awen said. “So if women feel that they need to do housework, earn money, and do everything by themselves, why not just be alone?”

But that doesn’t mean her parents are convinced.

“My parents want our bloodline to stay alive, so that means have many children and grandchildren,” Awen said.

Trip.com is one Chinese company that takes pride in trying to encourage more women to have children.

In an organization where more than half of its 30,000 employees are women, the online travel agency came up with its own solution to encourage women in the company to have more children.

“We only give women seven to eight years to build a career, a family, and have children,” CEO Jane Sun told CNBC last month, adding that the timeline is “very tight.”

Many young employees are already 28-years-old when they get their PhDs, and pregnancies after 35 years of age come with higher risks, she pointed out.

Trip.com offers subsidies from $15,000 to $300,000 to help employees who are Chinese nationals offset the hefty cost of freezing eggs, she said.

When the initiative first started in 2018, more than 50 employees contacted the firm’s welfare team to find out if they were eligible, she added.

“We are amongst the first, or maybe the only Chinese company, that offers this option,” according to Sun. “You always have to offer the option up, and whether people take it or not is completely up to them.” 

Pregnant employees are offered free taxi rides to and from work, and receive cash benefits when their child is born and starts school, she added.

But there’s a caveat. Women in China who want to freeze their eggs must be married, according to Chinese regulations.

However, some women in China want children but may not be ready to get married, said Mu the assistant professor from NUH. 

“Women are now more economically independent … so marriage is not such an attractive option to many of them,” she said.

According to data from CEIC, 7.64 million couples got married in 2021, a decline from 8.14 million in 2020.

Additionally, women who divorce after having children face social stigma and struggle to balance their career while raising a child alone.

“I don’t think it’s shameful to be a single mother, but I kept it a secret from my colleagues as I don’t want them to look at me differently,” said Shannon, a 36-year-old mother from Shenzhen.

Shannon told CNBC her father said: “It’s better to have gotten divorced than never getting married at all.” 

Although she is happier after the divorce, being a single mother comes with difficulties she never expected, she told CNBC, highlighting that she struggles with not having enough time and freedom to do what she wants.

“I am very happy with my child, but I sometimes regret becoming a mother,” Shannon said. “I’ll never want to have another kid and I don’t want to get married again.” 

China’s southwestern province of Sichuan announced at the start of the year that unmarried residents are able to reap the same benefits of married couples, a move it hopes will increase the country’s birth rate, Reuters reported. 

Such actions could possibly help solve low fertility in China since it is “decoupling the connections between marriage and fertility,” Mu said.

High property prices in China continue to hinder many couples who might want to settle down, said Xie the economist.

Owning property in China is a “really strong symbol,” and people would often want to buy a house before tying the knot. 

However, “housing cost is a big concern for anyone who wants to get married,” Xie said. 

“It needs to come down by at least 50% to make marriage more desirable,” according to the economist.

“There are no single silver bullets here,” he added. “Housing availability and price are contingent on marriage and the number of children” that couples have.

— CNBC’s Daisy Cherry and Ulrica Lin contributed to this report.