East Asia is home to some of the lowest birth rates globally. The trend, coupled with rapidly aging populations, strains pension systems and threatens to drag on the some of the world’s largest economies.

Once the world’s most populous nation, China is now among the many Asian countries struggling with anemic fertility rates. In an attempt to double the country’s rate of 1.0 children per woman, Beijing is reaching for a new tool: taxes on condoms,

Yes, of course, governments should remove impediments and disincentives for childbearing. Tax laws should be family friendly. And, above all, the current population trend should be seen for the future disasters it portends. But there is one more important factor that should not be overlooked.

In 2015, the Chinese government abandoned the one-child policy, permitting couples to have two children. In May 2021, the two-child policy was abandoned in favour of a three-child policy. However, this did not result in a baby boom and fertility rates continued to decline,

The Total Fertility Rate is the most important measure of the birth rate. It is a modeled number that calculates how many babies each woman is having in her lifetime. Every wealthy country besides Israel has a TFR below 2, as do China and India. That means ...

Authorities are pushing a range of ideas and policies to try and encourage more births, ranging from cash subsidies to taxing condoms