China's fertility rate hits record low in 2022: What's happening

China's fertility rate is already one of the world's lowest alongside South Korea, Taiwan, Hong Kong and Singapore.

China's fertility rate is estimated to have dropped to a record low of 1.09 in 2022, the National Business Daily said quoting numbers from China's Population and Development Research Center as Beijing tries to boost the country's declining number of new births. With this, China has the lowest fertility level among countries with a population of more than 100 million. China's fertility rate is already one of the world's lowest alongside South Korea, Taiwan, Hong Kong and Singapore.

China Population Decline: A boy wearing a face mask carries a Chinese flag as he walks along a pedestrian shopping street in Beijing. (AP)

Following China's first population drop in six decades and its rapid ageing population, Beijing has been trying measures to lift the birth rate including financial incentives and improved childcare facilities. China has said it will focus on education, science and technology to improve population quality and strive to maintain a "moderate fertility" level to support economic growth.

Why China is witnessing a population drop?

High childcare costs and limited career options after having a child have put many women off having more children or any at all, experts have said as gender discrimination and traditional stereotypes of women caring for their children are still widespread throughout the country. Paternity leave is still limited in most provinces in the country.

Hong Kong's Family Planning Association said that the number of childless women in the special Chinese administrative region more than doubled from five years ago to 43.2% last year. The percentage of couples with one or two children also fell while the average number of children per woman dropped from 1.3 in 2017 to a record low of 0.9 last year, according to its survey.