economy definately has a major role in it. similar to a lot of western nations, there is a growing number of educated chinese people who have education in a market that isnt hiring enough for the roles that they acquired skills for. the lack of having enough higher paying jobs puts off people from having children, in particular for people who have higher education, as they are more aware of the costs attached to children.

it all boils down to not enough people on the lower 90% have enough funds to think about having children to support the (unsustainable) social security countries often have.