Understanding youth pregnancy opinions

This is an extract of the Survey Report on the Social Mentality of Young Chinese Netizens (2022) conducted by Fudan Development Institute's Center for Communication and State Governance Research, the Global Communication All Media Research Institute of Fudan University, Bilibili Public Policy Research Institute and the Shanghai Information Security and Social Management Innovation Laboratory. The report surveyed a total of 5,492 young netizens across China in 2021 and 2022.

Compared with romantic relationships and marriage, young netizens' willingness to have children attracts much attention due to the issue of population growth. Young people hold a moderate attitude toward having children in general but are strongly against the idea of having a second child.

Sina Weibo data showed that 1.3 percent of young internet users expressed positive fertility attitudes while 1.2 percent held negative attitudes. The remaining 97.5 percent didn't have a clear view on this topic. It can be seen that, on the one hand, the overall attitude of young netizens toward fertility is relatively moderate and doesn't show some extreme anti-childbirth trends; on the other hand, an avoidance attitude toward procreation is still dominant among young people, with a nearly equal proportion of those who reject procreation (1.2 percent) and those who support it (1.3 percent).

While "willingness to have children "reflects young netizens' primary attitude toward childbirth, "willingness to have a second child" indicates a step forward in such attitudes. Young internet users who are positive about having a second child account for only 0.1 percent of the total sample. But among young people who clearly express a positive willingness to have a child, the proportion of those who want to have a second child is much higher (0.8 percent). This indicates that most youngsters with a positive childbirth attitude are mainly interested in having only one child, rather than having more.

From a chronological perspective, 2022 witnessed a negative turn in young netizens' willingness to have children. The data showed that the number of young people willing to have children dropped from 1.9 percent in 2021 to 1.3 percent in 2022, a decrease of nearly one-third. As for the intention to have a second child, 68.1 percent of the samples who stated clear attitudes changed from "no comment" to "unwilling to have a second child".

When it comes to the influences of gender, region, generation and other factors on young people's procreation attitudes, the research found that compared with netizens in eastern China, those in central China are more supportive of having children. Compared with those who have high school degrees or below, young people with bachelor's or master's degrees are more willing to bear children, but those with higher education are more opposed to having a second child. When it comes to gender differences, no significant disparity was found in the inclination to give birth between men and women.

Similar to their attitudes toward romantic relationships and marriages, modern youth hold a negative attitude toward childbearing also due to their redefinition of individual life values. For example, some young netizens want to focus their life value on living the present moment to the fullest. Raising children cost a lot not only financially but also in terms of time and energy, which is seen by a great number of modern young people as a burden on life, hindering their individual development and personal enjoyment. Instead, many internet users prefer to raise pets.

"Being pushed too hard" is another important reason why young internet users don't want to have children. To some young netizens, "promoting procreation" at a social level without adequate social welfare and legal protection is like treating young people as "procreation machines". In order to make sure that the functions of the society run smoothly, it selectively presents to the public positive information and knowledge about procreation which, in the eyes of modern youth, disrespects individual rights.

When society kept calling for procreation, and even openly urged young people to have children through compulsory measures such as collecting the "DINK tax" or setting up a "childbirth fund", young people fired back at society with strong resistance. However, when public childbirth promotion decreased in the past two years, young people's attitudes started to become moderate. This shows that compared to oppressive measures such as pushing young people to have children and accusing them for not having children, trying to understand and accept their choices may be a better guidance.

A semantic network analysis of millions of related video comments on Bilibili also shows that there is a battle between the individual values and social values of young people when it comes to their procreation attitudes. How to balance social and individual interests and whether childbirth should be a right or an obligation have also become popular topics online.