Low fertility rate also hinders economic recovery
The population of three major provinces in Northeast China is shrinking because of migration and an extremely low fertility rate, which will have a huge impact on an already challenged economy, experts warned.
A 2010 national census showed that about 1.8 million people moved out of the provinces of Heilongjiang, Liaoning and Jilin, the China Youth Daily reported. A similar census in 2000 showed only 360,000 left the region. In 2014, Qiqihar, Heilongjiang Province saw 37,779 permanent residents moving out of the city, while 25,000 people relocated to other cities in 2013, according to Shanghai-based Minsheng Weekly magazine.
Luo Dandan, an associate research fellow at the Heilongjiang Provincial Academy of Social Sciences, said the migration threatens the revitalization of the old industrial bases.
The three northeastern provinces used to be the backbone of China's heavy industries thanks to the central government's industrial distribution following the founding of the People's Republic of China in 1949. They went downhill in the 1990s after resources were severely exploited.
The central government released a plan in 2013 to rejuvenate the old industrial bases, to provide more investments in the next five years.
"More importantly, the region's low fertility rate created a bigger barrier to local economic recovery," said Huang Wenzheng, a former Harvard University assistant professor.
The three provinces continue to suffer from low economic growth. Their GDP growth rates were among the bottom five in 2014.
This drove more people to seek jobs in thriving cities, Luo.
"However, the low fertility rate and sluggish economy created a vicious circle. The development will be further hindered by a rising migration," Huang added.
The three provinces registered the lowest fertility rates - 0.74 in Liaoning, 0.75 in Heilongjiang and 0.76 in Jilin - according to the 2010 census. They were much lower than the 2.1 generally considered to be the level at which the population would be replenished.
Fu Cheng, director of the sociology institute of the Jilin Provincial Academy of Social Sciences, has called for the lifting of all restrictions on the policy because couples are reluctant to have a second child, saying "an exponential increase in the population is impossible."
Even the policy was relaxed in 2014, only 1.6 percent of eligible couples in Heilongjiang had applied for a second child as of March, Harbin-based news site shzhidao.cn reported in April.
