准許不只生一胎中國人口依然持續下跌 China’s birth rate keeps falling

　
China’s birth rate is falling despite the recent efforts of its government. Date released recently by the National Bureau of Statistics shows that there were only 10.6 million births in 2021, 1.4m fewer than the previous year. In addition, last year the number of deaths approached the number of births, which means the population is likely to shrink.

The Chinese government worry that an ageing population and shrinking workforce will affect the country’s economic growth. In 2016 couples were allowed to have a second child after the decades-long one-child policy, and last year the limit was upped to three. The government even tells women that it is their patriotic duty to have more children.

友善讓你懂 │ 解說：

　
儘管中國政府近年試圖解決人口問題，但中國的出生率依然正在下降。 國家統計局近日公佈的數據顯示，2021 年出生人口僅為 1060 萬，比前一年減少 140 萬。 此外，去年死亡人數已接近出生人數，這意味著人口可能開始減少。

中國政府擔心人口老齡化和勞動力萎縮，將影響該國的經濟增長。因此在 2016 年，在長達數十年的一胎化後，中國人民獲准生育第二個孩子，去年這一限制，還被提高到了三個。政府甚至告訴婦女，生育更多孩子是她們的愛國義務。

輕鬆帶著走 │ 學習：

　
Shrink 意思是「減少、縮小、縮減」，可以是數量減少，也可以是尺寸或範圍變小。

例句１：Your sweater will shrink if you wash it at too high a temperature.
用溫度過高的水洗毛衣，毛衣會縮水。

例句２：The company’s profits have shrunk from $6.5 million to $1.25 million.
公司利潤從 650 萬美元減少到了 125 萬美元。

有趣的是，在口語中，shrink 當作名詞，意思可以是精神科醫生或心理醫師。

例句：I was so depressed that I ended up going to see a shrink.
我太鬱悶了，最後不得不去找心理醫生看看。

本篇其他相關單字，介紹如下：

• effort　(n.) 努力
• Approach　(v.) 接近
• Workforce　(n.) 勞動力
• up　(v.) 提高
• patriotic　(n.) 愛國的