China's birth rate drops despite end of one-child policy

China's family planning commission has revealed the country's birth rate dropped by 3.5 per cent last year, despite moves over the past couple of years to fully end the one-child policy.

There were just over 17 million new babies born in mainland China in 2017.

While this is lower than 2016's figure, it is still higher than the average number of births in the five previous years, the China Daily newspaper reported.

The last remnants of the one-child policy were finally abolished in 2016. The Government ditched the measure in the hope it would prompt a baby boom and help offset a rapidly ageing population.

However, economic pressures and delaying marriage appear to be deterring urban couples from having two children.

Experts say the drop is explained by a decline in the number of women of child-bearing age.

According to figures published by the China Association of Social Security last year, China's elderly population is expected to reach 400 million by the end of 2035.

There are around 240 million elderly people in China now, and there is concern the increase would put the country's health and social care services — as well as its pension funds — under increasing strain.

China's National Health and Family Planning Commission said earlier this month that average life expectancy in China reached 76.5 years last year, up from 74.83 years in 2010.

ABC/Reuters

By China correspondent Bill Birtle