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my country is already in a society with low fertility rates, and demographic changes have led to corresponding adjustments in fertility policies. since the 2010s, with the implementation of the "two-child policy for couples with only one child", "universal two-child policy" and "three-child policy", the direction of fertility policy has been adjusted from "advocating a couple to have only one child" to "advocating a couple to have two children", and implementing "inclusive fertility policy". my country's fertility policy has begun to shift to a more relaxed and actively supportive tone of fertility, advocating the construction of a fertility-friendly social environment and a fertility-friendly society.

a fertility-friendly society requires strengthening services and support for fertility. this includes:“before childbirth”provide reproductive services and support, such as contraceptive services, pre-marital and pre-pregnancy health checks, nutritional support, and improvements in work and living environments;“during the reproductive process”reproductive services and support, such as improving the quality and comfort of obstetric and childbirth medical services, and providing good mental health services for pregnant women during the childbirth period; "post-childbirth" reproductive services and support, such as postpartum care and rehabilitation, care and raising of infants and children, and the construction of maternal and child facilities.

a fertility-friendly society also includes reducing restrictions and constraints on fertility, alleviating and solving the phenomena of people "not wanting to have children", "not daring to have children" and "not being able to have children".

“i don’t want to have children”the current population's desire to have children is reflected in the low fertility rate. the highest estimate of the population's desired number of children is 1.8, and the reliable estimate is around 1.6, or even decreasing. the value and significance of children are weakening. if the population does not want to have children, then no matter what measures are taken, the fertility level will not increase. therefore, it is necessary to solve the problem of people not wanting to have children through the construction of a fertility culture.

“don’t dare to have children”it refers to some groups that have the desire to have children, but have fewer children due to restrictions in family and social life. this includes the pressure of childbirth, raising and education, the burden of economic costs, the unequal division of labor within the family, or the "motherhood penalty" and work-family conflict. therefore, it is necessary to reduce the social factors that restrict childbirth through fertility support services.

“can’t have children”the main manifestation is the decline in fertility. the current infertility rate of the chinese population is about 12%-18%, and as the average childbearing age of men and women increases, the phenomenon of infertility will become more prominent. therefore, it is necessary to pay attention to the preservation and support of fertility and strengthen high-quality and affordable assisted reproductive medical services.

building a fertility-friendly society is not only a matter of medical technology, such as improving painless delivery technology, strengthening assisted reproductive technology, reducing the prevention and treatment of fertility-related diseases, and reducing the birth defect rate of the population; it also includes the construction of social systems and mechanisms, such as improving the maternal and child health care system, strengthening the construction of childcare service systems, etc. building a fertility-friendly society also includes the improvement of management systems and policies, the improvement of the legal system, strengthening the construction and supply of public services, and also includes the construction of a social psychological system. in addition, a fertility-friendly society also requires the overall shaping of family life and work-family relationships.

therefore, we need to build a fertility-friendly society by strengthening governance mechanisms, giving full play to the role of the family, reforming our education, improving the influence of the partner network, giving full play to the power of social organizations, encouraging the participation of enterprises, strengthening the role of the government, improving systems and policies, and further exploring the application of technological power. in this era of technological revolution, the role of technological power in supporting a fertility-friendly society is worth looking forward to. technological care and digital childcare contain huge industrial opportunities, and technological progress can also meet the needs of families, including care, upbringing and education needs, which is conducive to the healthy growth of parents and the new generation of children.

in the social changes, there are extensive constraints and restrictions on fertility, such as market competition and employment pressure, the pressure of children's involution in education and growth, and the high cost of living represented by housing prices. at the macro level, there are factors such as fluctuations in social and economic development and the risk of future uncertainty. these have attracted widespread attention from all walks of life. from the perspective of the factors affecting people's fertility intentions and fertility behaviors, in the current social changes, there are still some difficulties that are relatively neglected by people, but are still prominent.

first, the fertility problem of migrant population.the data show that the fertility rate of the floating population is lower than that of the local population. this is of course because the floating population often returns to the place of outflow to give birth, which is affected by the statistical survivor bias. another explanation is that the "interruption effect" brought about by migration will reduce fertility, that is, population migration and mobility interrupt marriage and childbirth in the life course, thus reducing fertility. however, due to their socialization environment, the floating population's fertility intention should be higher than that of the local population rather than lower, and the survey results of the population's fertility intention also prove this. in addition, even if there is an "interruption effect" in the fertility of the floating population, there should be a later "catch-up" and "make up for the interruption of their fertility."

therefore, the low fertility rate of the floating population shows that they have difficulties in living and giving birth in the city. this requires improving the family relocation of the floating population, because if the floating population couples do not even live together, their fertility will obviously be reduced. at the same time, it is necessary to ensure the stable employment of the floating population, improve their employment quality, improve their stable residence and increase housing security, and include the floating population more widely in public services such as medical insurance and maternity insurance. improvements in these aspects will be beneficial to supporting the floating population's fertility intention and fertility behavior.

second, the issue of artificial abortion.at present, the number of artificial abortions in my country is about 9.5 million per year, while the number of births per year is about 9 million. therefore, rather than encouraging more births, it is more important to reduce unnecessary artificial abortions. the large-scale phenomenon of artificial abortions indicates the existence of "unintentional pregnancies", which just shows that we still need to attach importance to contraceptive services.

at the same time, we should also see that there are some "unintentional abortions" in reality. for example, many abortions are unmarried and single mothers. our system and social life system do not support single mothers. single mothers encounter many problems in pregnancy care, obtaining birth certificates and registering for household registration, etc., of course, there are also a series of other institutional restrictions. artificial abortion is not good for women's health, so we need to improve the relevant system to protect the rights of these single mothers and infants. this will reduce restrictions on women's fertility and is also a friendly to fertility and life.

third, another prominent phenomenon that hinders people from realizing their reproductive desire is “inability to have children”.the current infertility rate is increasing, and the main reason is not that humans are degenerating. although there are reports that environmental pollution and pesticide use have affected human fertility, human fertility is not yet in crisis. the main reason for the increase in infertility is that the average childbearing age of men and women is increasing, and the reproductive capacity of the older population will decrease.

therefore, in order to meet the needs of men and women to become pregnant and give birth at a higher age, it is necessary to provide assisted reproductive technology research and development and technical services, including frozen eggs, in vitro fertilization and other technical services. now some cities have included assisted reproductive medical services for several projects into medical insurance. we need to strengthen the research and development and application of related medical technologies, strengthen medical service supervision, and make corresponding adjustments to the medical insurance system, and improve relevant health and health policies. these are all to strengthen fertility service support in a low fertility society. new needs.

fourth, the restrictions and constraints on fertility also include conceptual limitations.although some big names, such as musk, encourage people to have more children and put it into practice, the internet is still full of "fear of marriage and childbearing" and even "anti-marriage and anti-childbearing", with the prominent slogan being "no marriage, no childbearing to ensure safety". driven by traffic, the emotions of marriage conflicts and childbearing anxiety in news information are constantly amplified and spread, forming a social ecology and cognitive mentality that "childbearing is terrible".

therefore, low fertility is not only (or even not mainly) constrained by the economy, but also by social opinions and concepts. "fear of marriage and childbearing" and "fertility anxiety" constitute the conceptual constraints on people's fertility, and even childbearing is considered "unmodern" and not "feminist" enough. to build a fertility-friendly society, we need to break these conceptual constraints. just as in the implementation of the family planning system, it is necessary to promote the transformation of fertility through "modernized fertility culture"; in a low-fertility society, serving and supporting fertility also requires "rebuilding fertility culture."

in the context of a low-fertility society, it is necessary to attach importance to building a fertility-friendly society, which requires both strengthening services and support for fertility and reducing the many restrictions and constraints on people's fertility that appear in social changes. in short, the current construction of a fertility-friendly society is not to call on people to have more children, but to reduce people's concerns and pressures about fertility, reduce the constraints on people's independent decision-making on fertility, and provide people with sufficient and high-quality services and support for fertility. its purpose is to increase people's freedom to fertilize, protect people's reproductive rights, improve the balance between work and family life, and enhance the happiness of fertility and family.

in other words, as people's lives and family happiness are improved, as well as services and support for people's fertility are enhanced, including the continuous construction of a new fertility culture and social progress in social changes, people's fertility intention and fertility level will be improved, and they will get rid of the curse of the "low fertility trap". by striving to promote more fertility-friendly social progress, in a prosperous and optimistic social expectation, the fertility level of human beings will be correspondingly improved, and it will also be more conducive to realizing a happy and sustainable human future.

(the author ren yuan is a professor at the institute of population studies, fudan university)