2026-10-29
On October 29, a Douyin influencer posted two notices from Yucai School in Pingyin County, Jinan, Shandong, dated October 27: due to loan approval failure and tight funds, June wages were delayed, and wages for May and June would be combined and paid at the end of November; social security and medical insurance for all staff would be terminated starting this month. The influencer claimed the school had not paid social security for 33 months, teachers had been legally demanding unpaid wages for two months, and many were forced to resign.
2026-10-25
According to the China Statistical Yearbook 2026, China's population aged 65 and above reached 224 million in 2025, accounting for 15.9%, exceeding for the first time the share of the 0-to-14 age group at 15.1%; the old-age dependency ratio of 23.1% surpassed the child dependency ratio of 22% for the first time.
2026-10-25
On October 25, Yicai reported that as the number of children declines, kindergartens in many places are being converted into nursing homes, and preschool teachers are changing careers to care for the elderly. In 2025, China's old-age dependency ratio exceeded the child dependency ratio for the first time, with the population aged 65 and above exceeding the 0–14 age group by 10.89 million.
2026-10-23
On October 23, Chinese Premier Li Qiang presided over the State Council executive meeting, calling for accelerating the building of a fertility-friendly society, improving policies on marriage, childbirth, child-rearing and education, optimizing family support measures such as fiscal and tax, social security and housing policies, and striving to stabilize the scale of the newborn population.
2026-10-21
On October 21, a netizen in Shandong posted a video saying that the month's pension, which he had reported the previous day, had not arrived on time, resonating with many other netizens; after consulting the local Social Security Bureau, he was told that it would arrive in batches over the following days. As of October 22, some netizens still had not received their pensions and were comforting one another.
2026-10-20
On October 20, Gelonghui released data on sex ratios by birth order for 31 provinces (municipalities) based on the 2020 China Census Yearbook: nationally, the sex ratio for first births was 113.17, for second births 106.78, and for third births it rose to 132.93, with Hubei's third-birth sex ratio reaching as high as 177.42, Anhui at 165.95, and Fujian at 164.49.
2026-10-19
On October 19, the Weibo topic “Why young people don’t pay social insurance” trended on the hot search list. Netizens generally attributed it to low incomes, and called for the implementation of an eight-hour workday, no fewer than eight rest days per month, strict punishment for wage arrears, and compensation guarantees for layoffs.
2026-10-16
On October 16, the Hanshan county media account "Yujian Hanshan" in Anhui posted a video explaining that children may contribute extra funds to help their parents pay the annual urban and rural residents' pension insurance after the payment is completed; in the comments section, a netizen complained, "Can't I just give my parents the money directly?"
2026-10-15
On October 15, a netizen posted chat screenshots claiming that police in a certain place in Guangdong were requiring landlords to evict tenants who had not paid social insurance, saying that those without jobs cannot rent homes, and that temporary workers and food delivery riders were also among those being evicted. The day before, another netizen had already posted asking whether one could rent a home without paying social insurance, sparking discussion.
2026-10-15
On October 15, a netizen posted that the Hubei Provincial Department of Human Resources and Social Security had launched the "Sheyin Loan" service as early as June 19, 2025, drawing attention.
2026-10-15
After the netizen posted a video mocking social insurance back-payments, their account avatar and ID were reportedly cleared. Netizens in the comments section sarcastically remarked, among other things, "In the midst of laughter and talk, the avatar vanished into thin air."
2026-10-15
On October 15, a blogger on Bilibili posted a video saying that his video “Social insurance can be ‘mandatory,’ so why isn’t the two-day weekend mandatory?”, published on August 27 last year, had surpassed one million views, but was suddenly taken down two days ago, and he showed a screenshot of the takedown notice.
2026-10-14
Many places across the country have been intensively carrying out social security publicity campaigns under the theme “everyone fulfills their duty, everyone enjoys the benefits,” sparking widespread discussion among netizens about the flaws in the social security system and about forced mobilization.
2026-10-14
On October 14, human resources and social security departments across various regions officially launched the “Social Security Services Go into Every Household” campaign, publicizing policies on pensions, work-related injury insurance, unemployment insurance and other insurance programs on site and providing convenient services to the public.
2026-10-14
Recently, China's human resources and social security departments have proposed finding uninsured groups through various methods and pushing more people to enroll in social insurance.
2026-10-14
On October 14, Shantou in Guangdong rolled out themed buses and ferries for mobile outreach on social security policies, saying the shift is from "people looking for policies" to "policies finding people," with a focus on serving flexible workers, migrant workers and other groups. Netizens joked, "I will find you, whether north or south, east or west."
2026-10-14
On October 14, some netizens joked that red, yellow and green codes might as well be introduced based on social insurance payment status: show a green code for normal payments, a yellow code for lapsed payments, and a red code for those who have never been insured, recreating the health code management measures of that year.
2026-10-14
On October 14, the Nanshan Branch of the Shenzhen Social Insurance Fund Administration set up a consultation booth at the entrance of a park, carrying out social insurance publicity under the themes of "Everyone Fulfills Their Duties · Everyone Enjoys the Benefits" and "2026 Social Insurance Services Go Into Every Household." Netizens commented sarcastically that they should set up at company entrances and have employers pay social insurance for their employees.
2026-10-13
Research by Yi Fuxian, a demographer at the University of Wisconsin–Madison, suggests that China's actual population may be close to 1.27 billion, with the officially announced figure of 1.4 billion overstated by 130 million.
2026-10-13
On October 13, The Wall Street Journal published a report citing research by Yi Fuxian, a scholar at the University of Wisconsin–Madison, saying that China's actual population may be around 1.27 billion, about 130 million fewer than the officially announced 1.4 billion, based on evidence including vaccine dosages, census data, and discrepancies in school-age population records, and noting that overestimating the population could exacerbate strategic miscalculations between China and the United States.
2026-10-13
On October 13, the YuWa Population Think Tank released the World Expected Population Report 2026, stating that China's "expected population" fell from 1.070 billion in 2016 to 264 million in 2025, a decline of 75.3%, already below the 285 million of the United States, and pointing out that current support for childbirth is so insufficient that it is difficult even to keep the indicator from weakening further.
2026-10-13
On October 13, a netizen in Hebei who claimed to work at a private enterprise with a meager income too low to afford social insurance posted a video wearing a red plastic bag, publicly calling on Li Zhong, Vice Minister of Human Resources and Social Security, accusing company bosses of having money but never paying social insurance for their employees, and urging leaders to investigate bosses who do not pay social insurance.
2026-10-13
On October 13, a netizen in Anhui posted a video mocking how relevant departments can use big data to precisely locate individuals who have not paid their social security, yet show low efficiency in cases of missing persons and telecom fraud. The netizen also mentioned being forced to receive three doses of vaccines under the pretext of health, sparking heated discussion among netizens.
2026-10-12
A netizen posted a bill showing a social insurance payment of 2785 yuan made to the Shenzhen Tax Bureau through Alipay Huabei on October 12, sparking heated discussion online.
2026-10-12
On October 12, a netizen shared an estimated reference table of pension levels for different groups, prompting other netizens to post comments and discuss the gap in retirement benefits.
2026-10-12
Around October 12, a netizen showed a text message confirming the deposit of the central farmland productivity protection subsidy, in the amount of only 0.32 yuan, contrasting with the high pensions enjoyed by those inside the system.
2026-10-12
Around October 12, a screenshot showing a high pension of 64,479 yuan for a retiree from inside the system circulated online, sparking discussion among netizens about the gap in retirement benefits.
2026-10-11
An audit report from Hubei disclosed that in 14 cities, 159 employees received duplicate maternity allowances and salaries totaling 3.5966 million yuan, while another 154 insured individuals were entitled to but did not receive maternity allowances totaling 3.5484 million yuan.
2026-10-11
On October 11, the topic “Employers in Arrears on Social Insurance May Be Fined Up to Three Times the Amount” topped Weibo’s trending searches, sparking heated discussion among netizens.
2026-10-11
On October 11, “smoothing out pension benefits” trended on Weibo, reaching a high of No. 15. Under the topic, one blogger suggested that retirees receiving more than 10,000 yuan per month, whose contributions before 2014 were deemed as paid, have their benefits cut by 5% per year for five consecutive years, and that those receiving more than 5,000 yuan have their increases frozen for five years; another blogger called for raising rural pensions to at least 500 yuan, saying rural elderly cannot wait any longer.
2026-10-10
CCP official Li Zhong publicly stated on October 10 that those who still have not participated in social insurance and labor insurance will all be found through methods such as big data monitoring and forced to make contributions.
2026-10-10
Li Zhong, Vice Minister of Human Resources and Social Security of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), spoke at a State Council Information Office press conference, calling on more flexible workers and workers in new forms of employment to participate in the employee pension insurance program.
2026-10-10
On October 10, Gelonghui published an article estimating from population birth data that from 2026 to 2050 a cumulative total of about 570 million people in China will turn 60, with an average of about 63,000 people entering retirement age each day, and pressure on pension payouts continuing to grow.
2026-10-10
At a State Council Information Office press conference on October 10, Li Zhong, Vice Minister of Human Resources and Social Security, announced that as of the end of September, the number of participants in basic pension, unemployment, and work injury insurance had reached 1.079 billion, 251 million, and 327 million respectively, and said that through policy optimization and other means such as “using data to find people,” those not yet enrolled would be found and mobilized to enroll, with a focus on supporting flexible workers and migrant workers in participating in employee pension insurance.
2026-10-10
On October 10, a blogger posted a video saying that the county system found he had not paid social insurance and handed the list to the community, which then called to persuade him to join the urban-rural resident pension insurance; at first he thought it was a scam.
2026-10-09
Data from Hong Kong's Census and Statistics Department show that births from mid-2025 to mid-2026 totaled 29,700, falling below the 30,000 mark for the first time and hitting a new low since records began in the 1960s.
2026-10-09
Shih Wing-ching, founder of am730, published an article in a Hong Kong newspaper claiming that the appearance of condoms is the main cause of declining birth rates, and suggesting that the government mandate that a certain proportion of condom products be leaky defective goods, in order to fine-tune the birth rate.
2026-10-09
On October 9, the Shenzhen Tax Service issued an announcement stating that the social insurance payment function via channels such as the Alipay life account "Shenzhen Tax Service" has been restored.
2026-10-02
On October 2, when searching for "social security" on Weibo, the page displayed a notice that the topic's content was not shown.
2026-10
China's births in 2025 totaled only 7.92 million, a decrease of 1.62 million from 9.54 million in 2024, hitting the lowest level in decades.
2026-09-28
On September 28, the State Taxation Administration issued the National Discretionary Standards for Tax Administrative Penalties (2026 Edition), bringing social insurance contributions within the scope of nationally unified tax penalty discretion. Where an employer fails to pay or underpays social insurance contributions and still fails to pay after being ordered to do so within a specified time limit, a fine of up to three times the amount in arrears may be imposed. The new rules take effect on November 1, 2026.
2026-09-18
In a conversation, Morgan Stanley's Chief Economist for China, Xing Ziqiang, pointed out that China's social security expenditure accounts for only about 8% of GDP, far below the OECD average of 25% and the levels of developing countries with similar per capita GDP, and also mentioned group disparities in the enjoyment of public services.
2026-09-19
On September 19, population expert Huang Wenzheng published an article refuting National Health Commission Director Lei Haichao's statement that the labor force is sufficient. He pointed out that 8-million annual births cannot sustain long-term scale and warned of a demographic collapse in 20 years without substantial improvements in fertility support. The article was subsequently deleted.
2026-09-16
The World Economic Forum released the 2026 Global Gender Gap Report, ranking China 96th overall, with the sex ratio at birth indicator ranking third from the bottom globally.
2026-09-14
On September 14, Lei Haichao, Director of the National Health Commission, stated that in the face of negative population growth, the fundamentals of China's total population remain unchanged. He proposed actively promoting views on marriage and childbearing, resisting negative views on marriage and childbearing, and simultaneously promoting the integration of childcare and preschool education while reducing the costs of giving birth and raising children.
2026-09-14
On September 14, Lei Haichao, director of the National Health Commission, stated at a State Council Information Office press conference that although China's newborn population has declined in recent years, it has remained at the order of magnitude of around 8 million, and there will still be relatively abundant labor resources in the future. This statement was subsequently rebutted by Huang Wenzheng in a published article.
2026-09-14
On September 14, at a press conference, Lei Haichao, director of the National Health Commission, stated that China's total population is 1.405 billion and that it will long maintain its status as a populous country in the world, while acknowledging that the population has declined for 4 consecutive years and that newborns have dropped from the tens of millions to the millions.
2026-09-14
Official data show that primary school enrollment in Guangzhou fell from 272,500 in 2023 to 218,300 in 2025, a decrease of 54,200 over two years, or about 19.9%.
2026-09
According to Ministry of Education data disclosed by Yicai, the number of primary school students in China in 2025 fell by more than 4.06 million compared with 2024, ordinary primary schools decreased by 8,000, an average of nearly 22 closing every day; over the past 5 years the total number of ordinary primary schools has fallen by 30,000.
2026-09
According to disclosed statistics, the number of kindergartens closed in China in 2025 rose further, with nearly 59 shut down per day on average, reflecting the impact of the declining birth rate on the preschool education sector.
2026-08-14
On August 14, 2026, financial media reported that, hit by the continuing decline in newborns, the number of full-time kindergarten teachers nationwide dropped by nearly 220,000 in one year, and preschool teacher-training colleges were forced to switch en masse to the field of elderly care.
2026-08-12
On August 12, 2026, the Ministry of Civil Affairs released statistics showing that in the first half of the year, nationwide marriage registrations fell by 264,000 pairs year-on-year, a drop of about 7.5%, while divorce registrations increased year-on-year.
2026-08
In August 2026, Heilongjiang Province drew attention for failing to publish birth rates, death rates, and natural growth rates in its statistical bulletins on national economic and social development for three consecutive years, making it the only province in the country to withhold these indicators.
2026-07
In July 2026, reports circulated online that Sun Yat-sen University failed to pay full social insurance for postdoctoral researchers in accordance with regulations during the adjustment of social insurance for public institutions, leaving hundreds of postdocs with long-overdue social insurance payments, with arrears amounting to millions of yuan.
2026-06-15
On June 15, 2026, the School of Economics and Management of Tsinghua University released a report revealing that the average monthly pension benefit for urban employees in China is about 3825 yuan, while the average monthly benefit under the basic pension insurance for urban and rural residents is only about 246 yuan, a difference of 15.5 times.
2026-04
According to online reports, since April 2026, multiple counties and prefecture-level cities, in a push to meet marriage registration targets, have been taking elderly couples in their 80s and 90s from surrounding villages who had never registered their marriages to civil affairs bureaus to retroactively register them; some of the elderly do not even have second-generation ID cards.
2025-04-25
According to a report dated April 25, 2025 by Pingshan County's official account "Pingshan Fabu," a local villager aged 60 or above with family difficulties applied for an 82,300 yuan "social security credit loan" and completed the pension insurance make-up contribution procedures on site.
Location: Pingshan County, Yibin ·
Importance II ·
Verification: Reported ·
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2025-03
During the Two Sessions in March 2025, Zheng Gongcheng, a deputy to the National People's Congress and president of the Chinese Social Security Association, said in an interview that whether robot employees should pay social security contributions monthly is "also being discussed now." The interview was dug up by netizens in October 2026 as the debate over social security heated up.
2025-02
In February 2025, Meituan, JD.com and several other platforms successively issued announcements stating that they would gradually start paying social insurance for food delivery riders. Media professional Xiang Dongliang calculated that Meituan has about 820,000 full-time and stable riders, and that paying the five social insurances and the housing provident fund at the minimum contribution base would cost 15.5 billion yuan per year, exceeding Meituan's net profit of more than 13.8 billion yuan in 2023. He believes the platforms cannot bear the full cost and will merely open accounts to make the deductions on riders' behalf.
2025
In 2025, China's birth population was 7.92 million, with a birth rate of only 5.63 per thousand, ranking second to last in the world.
2025
Data from Chinese Communist Party civil affairs departments shows that in 2025 there were 6.765 million marriage registrations nationwide, while the total number of divorces reached 3.937 million, with a marriage-to-divorce ratio as high as 58.2%, setting the highest record in the world under circumstances other than major disasters.
2025
Yicai, citing data from the China Statistical Yearbook 2026, points out that China's old-age dependency ratio is 23.1%, surpassing the child dependency ratio of 22% for the first time.
2025
Hubei Province and local banks have launched a product called Social Insurance Loan, officially promoted as a warm-hearted path of social security.
2020
The 2020 seventh national census showed that China's newborn sex ratio has remained imbalanced since 1990, reaching 121 to 100 in 2004, with 34.9 million more men than women nationwide, of whom marriage-age men aged 20 to 40 outnumber women by 17 million.
2019
In 2019, the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences released actuarial projections stating that the broad-caliber social security surplus would peak in 2027 and be exhausted by 2035, but in reality the timeline was pushed back due to increased fiscal subsidies.
2016
In 2016, China fully lifted its two-child policy, but in 2017 the number of births fell instead of rising, coming in millions short of projections.
2015
Zhai Zhenwu, a demographer at Renmin University of China, published an article opposing the lifting of the two-child policy, claiming that if it were fully lifted immediately, the annual peak of births would reach 49.95 million; in 2017, actual births fell instead of rising, his prediction failed, yet he still serves as president of the China Population Association.
2007
In 2007, demographer Yi Fuxian published Big Country, Empty Nest, arguing that China's population data was falsified and that family planning should be abolished; he was subsequently banned and went into exile overseas.
2004
In 2004, demographers including Gu Baochang and Wang Feng jointly petitioned the central authorities, recommending that the one-child family planning policy be changed to a two-child policy. Gu Baochang was cold-shouldered, and Wang Feng was silenced.
1981
In 1981, China established the National Family Planning Commission. Over the following 20-plus years it grew into a massive bureaucratic system, with full-time family planning public employees reaching 800,000 by 2000.
1978
In 1978, after missile expert Song Jian went abroad for exchanges, he and Tian Xueyuan and others used mathematical models to calculate, claiming that if China did not control its population, it would reach 4.264 billion by 2080; Tian Xueyuan also proposed that China's population ceiling should be 650 million to 700 million, providing a basis for family planning.