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The Tang family plays with their two-year-old son in their apartment outside of Beijing.
Little Ziang is a dream child.
It is questionable whether the couple will have any further offspring.
In China, the one-child policy has been gradually relaxed for years.
And since August last year, couples have even been allowed to have three children.
However, the desired baby boom does not materialize.
Tang Huajun, father:
»In many families, the grandparents are either too old or live too far away, so the parents have to hire nannies. The already high cost of living is simply too high. Also, many of us marry late, so it becomes difficult to have multiple children.«
In addition, the decades-old requirement that couples were only allowed to have one child is still having psychological effects.
A family with more than one child is therefore the exception rather than the rule.
Ziang's grandparents are also concerned.
Liang Zhimin, grandmother:
“We obeyed the country and the government and followed the one-child policy at the time. […] However, society has evolved and the labor market has changed significantly. Career and children are therefore more difficult to reconcile. Parents need to take a lot more precautions and planning.«
Forecasts by the UN assume that in 2050 almost 30 percent of all Chinese will be over 65 years old - and only around eleven percent will be minors.
There is a risk of aging and with it economic collapse because fewer people are of working age.
Jianfa Shen, University of Hong Kong:
»The Chinese population is at a turning point. Our population growth is stagnating, so we have a very low birth rate.”
Birth rates are falling worldwide, especially in Europe, island states and East Asian countries such as South Korea and Japan.
Currently, the population is growing mainly in African and Asian countries.
Example India: Compared to China, the population is still growing here.
A birth rate of 2.18 children per woman coincides with an increasing life expectancy in the country.
The UN therefore assumes that India will overtake China in the second quarter of next year and become the most populous country in the world.
Residents of large cities like New Delhi are already feeling this.
Priyanka, resident:
“On public transport, we feel like we're being pushed like cattle onto a bus or subway. The population has also led to an increase in unemployment. There are at least 100 applicants for each vacancy. In my opinion, the population should be contained.”
As a birth control measure, the Indian state offers free sterilization to women.
It is now the most widely used contraceptive method - and the number of children has fallen significantly.
However, because women often lack the freedom of choice, the procedure is promoted for political reasons and is associated with major medical risks, experts criticize the practice.
Time and time again, women die from sterilization, but they are still lured with money and gifts to have their fallopian tubes cut.
And couples who have just had children face the same concerns as parents in China:
Aparna Sharma, mother:
»There is fear of the future because the competition is increasing every day.«
But in India, too, the birth rate has been falling for years.
According to the UN, the number of people of retirement age will more than double by 2050 and the birth rate will fall to 1.78.
So India gets the same problems as China – only about 30 years later.
