Beijing: The number of registered births dropped by nearly a third in China last year, in the latest sign that relaxations in the country’s strict family planning policy are failing to spark a baby boom.
After decades of a “one-child policy”, Beijing changed the rules in 2016 to allow families to have two children as fears grew about China’s fast-ageing population and shrinking workforce.
Figures from the Public Security Ministry released on Monday showed that the number of registered births fell to 10.04 million in 2020, a drop of more than 30 percent from the previous year.
It marked the fourth consecutive year that figure has declined.
The gender balance was 52.7 percent boys and 47.3 percent girls, according to the official data.
China introduced the one-child policy in the late 1970s in a dramatic effort to slow rapid population growth, before reversing it in 2016.
But the change has not yet resulted in a baby boom, with empowered Chinese women often delaying or…