China can boost births by improving living standards, says leading demographer

China has “great potential” for a higher fertility rate if the standard of living and access to public services are improved, according to a leading demographer.

In an article in The Beijing News on Wednesday, Cai Fang, a demographic economist with the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, also said there was an “urgent need” to improve basic public services and make them available to everyone to address the extremely low fertility rate.