Global Experience on Low-Fertility Issues and Its Inspiration for China

China is facing a low-fertility risk. This paper summarises the global trend of low fertility along with its causes and policy intervention, and introduces the pronatalist policies from life-cycle perspective, which includes the policies from marriage, housing, family-work balance, financial incentives, childcare, education, public healthcare and public infrastructure. Although the policy effects remain controversial, some inspirations still can be obtained: encouraging childbearing is a long-term and systematic practice with multiple goals; pronatalist policies cover all stages of the family life cycle; and the core of such policies is cost reduction. In the process of promoting the convergence of fertility policy and social economic policy, China should adopt a full life cycle perspective with an aim to reduce the costs of childbearing as well as childrearing and implement comprehensive policies to guide families to make decisions on childbearing.