Chinese women are choosing personal ambitions over state and family pressures to increase the country’s declining birth rates. These decisions come amid Beijing’s intensifying pleas for larger families, inciting a demographic crisis. What Happened: Many Chinese women are hesitating to have more children due to mounting frustration over government intrusion and the expenses associated with child-rearing. The number of newborns has dramatically fallen from about 16 million in 2012 to under 10 million in 2022. Some forecasts indicate that China’s population, currently around 1.4 billion, could ha…
