China Offers Multiple-Child Families Housing Help as Demographic Crisis Looms

China has directed local governments to create more preferential housing policies for multiple-child families to encourage couples to have more children as the country confronts an approaching demographic crisis.

The instructions highlight the central government’s concerns about the rapidly declining growth of its 1.4 billion population, which the U.N. predicted would begin shrinking in 2023 when it is overtaken by India, along with the resulting economic and social problems, such as pension fund shortfalls and a shortage of elderly care services.