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Mandy Zuo

To reverse a worrisome trend of deaths outpacing births in China, central authorities are being urged to look beyond merely trying to convince adults to procreate – the attention, leaders are now being told, should be on educating children.
A top political adviser and leading demographer has proposed that China take action to protect fertility from the earliest stages of a person’s development, by making sexual-health education mandatory for school kids amid a demographic crisis that has far-reaching social and economic ramifications.
“The earlier we educate young people about reproductive health, the better we can protect their future fertility,” said He Dan, director of the China Population and Development Research Centre, a Beijing-based think tank, during the annual “two sessions” parliamentary gatherings in Beijing.
Her call came as the central government said it was planning to subsidise families with children later this year – the first pledge of the kind at the national level, despite subsidies being offered by many local governments in recent years.


He, who is also a member of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference, said taking more steps to safeguard the population’s fertility will “directly affect the final number of children a couple has”.
In her proposal to the top political advisory body, as reported by the China Youth Daily, He warned that there is a mismatch between sexual maturity and understanding among teenagers, as well as a prevalence of early sexual activity, unintended pregnancies and unsafe abortions.
“These issues bring many hidden dangers to future reproductive ability and the physical and mental health of young people,” she said.
The head of the National Health Commission, Lei Haichao, said it was working with other departments to iron out the details for the nationwide birth-subsidy plan, during a meeting with delegates at the two sessions on Friday.
While delivering his annual government work report on Wednesday, Premier Li Qiang also vowed to roll out more policies to encourage childbirth and “proactively” respond as China’s population rapidly ages.
China’s total population continued shrinking in 2024 for the third consecutive year, falling by 1.39 million to 1.4083 billion, despite a slight uptick in the number of newborns.




In 2020, China passed an amendment to its law on the protection of minors, making sex education mandatory from June 2021. At the time, the top legislative body said that schools, including kindergartens, should conduct “age-appropriate sex education for minors, increasing their awareness and ability to protect themselves against sexual abuse and sexual harassment”.
The proclamation set off a debate about sexuality in China. Yet, nearly four years after the law took effect, a national sex-education curriculum remains absent.
Roughly 52 per cent of children in Chinese kindergartens and primary and middle schools had not received any sexuality education in school, according to a study by researchers from Beijing Normal University, who released their findings last year.
Amid an increasing trend of postponing marriage and childbirth, authorities should encourage people to enter those stages at an “appropriate age”, and assess the fertility level of the population, He urged.
The government needs to provide free fertility-assessment services to help people understand their reproductive health status, she said.
China’s fertility rate – the average number of children born to each woman – dropped to 1.09 in 2022, according to an estimate by other researchers from He’s research centre.
A rate of 2.1 children per woman, called the replacement rate, is widely accepted as the minimum for a country’s population to remain constant.


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Years after Beijing called for ‘age-appropriate sex education for minors’, a national curriculum remains absent as China’s demographic crisis worsens


Years after Beijing called for ‘age-appropriate sex education for minors’, a national curriculum remains absent as China’s demographic crisis worsens.


China, it’s time for ‘the talk’: sex education urged for children as adults balk at babies

.css-1c6uqr6{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;overflow-wrap:break-word;}Years after Beijing called for ‘age-appropriate sex education for minors’, a national curriculum remains absent as China’s demographic crisis worsens

Years after Beijing called for ‘age-appropriate sex education for minors’, a national curriculum remains absent as China’s demographic crisis worsens