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Why are women in China not having more babies?

Mar 17, 2023
In China, each woman went from having about three children in the late 1970s to now one. Decades later, the Chinese government wants women to have three children again but is meeting resistance.
A woman holding a baby girl lines up for a PCR COVID test in Shanghai in 2022. Birth rates continued to fall during China's strict zero-COVID policy during the pandemic.
Charles Zhang/Marketplace

How the pandemic created an unexpected "baby bump"

Oct 19, 2022
The country's birth rate rose in 2021, thanks — at least in part to — schedule flexibility provided by remote work, a study author says.
"By the end of 2021, births for U.S. mothers were up by about 6%, relative to the pre-pandemic trend," UCLA professor Martha Bailey says.
Cindy Ord/Getty Images

The birth rate in the U.S. increased last year for the first time since 2014

May 24, 2022
Overall, births are still trending downward.
Birth rates tend to fall during recessionary times.
damircudic/Getty Images

How serious is our declining population growth problem?

The implications of a shrinking population on our economic growth are potentially big, but Marketplace senior economic contributor Chris Farrell thinks there's some solutions to tap.
Embracing technology during the pandemic could help, says Chris Farrell.
Bill Pugliano/Getty Images

Japan's population is plunging, so where are the babies?

Apr 20, 2016
The nation fights an alarming trend with matchmakers and a shift in workplace culture.
Kumi Matsumoto and her second child in Tokyo. On balancing the demands of motherhood and work in Japan, "I’m the kind of woman who does not think that quitting is realistic choice," she said. 
Sally Herships