Children play games at Dongcheng Kindergarten in Tongling, East China's Anhui Province, on August 18, 2022. Photo: VCG

The number of babies born in China this year may fall below 9 million, a Chinese academician has said, which would mean the number has fallen by over 40 percent in the last five years. He also expressed worry about the fertility of women of childbearing age.

The remarks were made by Qiao Jie, deputy of Peking University Health Science Center and a member of the Chinese Academy of Engineering, at a conference on Tuesday. 

Qiao said that boosting women's fertility is one of the key factors for stimulating population growth. He noted that the number of newborns this year could be as low as 7 million. 

Qiao said that there are various key aspects to the fertility of women of childbearing age. First, since 90 percent of cases of abnormal human embryonic development have unknown etiology, further analysis is needed in basic fields such as new genes and new transcripts; second, regarding the maintenance of fertility, diseases such as egg maturation and embryo implantation disorders still lack a traceable treatment method, which requires further clarification of targets related to evaluation and intervention.

China's National Healthcare Security Administration announced in February the inclusion of labor analgesia and assisted fertility technology in the coverage of medical insurance as part of broader efforts to safeguard people's reproductive rights and willingness to have children.

Healthcare authorities have always attached great importance to population issues, the administration said, adding that eligible fertility support medicine, including bromohentine, triprelline and clomiphene, are already covered by medical insurance, which has helped many patients.

The population in the Chinese mainland fell for the first time in 61 years in 2022, decreasing by a total of 850,000, data released by the National Bureau of Statistics showed.