[satvikpendem]

Fertility rate across the world is dropping even without government intervention. Who knew having a higher standard of living means you don't need as many kids to work the farm, and indeed, that people simply don't want to give up that lifestyle in order to have kids?

[The_Colonel]

Yes, but the fertility rate drop is just too fast in China. There will be way too many old people requiring care for too few people in the productive age.

Smaller rich countries can solve this problem by importing young workers from poor countries. But on China's scale of 1.5B people that's not really feasible. (China also isn't really that rich on average, isn't attractive for immigrants and isn't culturally welcoming to immigrants)