Parents in China are now eligible to receive 3,600 yuan (£375; $500) annually for each child under the age of three, under the government’s recently announced nationwide subsidy aimed at increasing the birth rates.
China’s birth rate has been in decline since the Communist Party ended its one-child policy almost a decade ago. The new handouts will assist around 20 million families with the expenses associated with raising children, according to state media reports.
Several Chinese provinces have been experimenting with various forms of payment schemes to encourage families to have more children, as the second-largest global economy grapples with an impending demographic crisis.
The newly introduced scheme, announced earlier this week, will provide a total of up to 10,800 yuan per child. The policy will be implemented retroactively starting from the beginning of this year, as per the statement by Beijing’s state broadcaster CCTV.
The initiative follows ongoing efforts by local governments to increase birth rates in China. In March, the city of Hohhot in northern China began offering residents up to 100,000 yuan per baby for couples with at least three children.
Shenyang, a city located northeast of Beijing, provides 500 yuan per month to families with a third child under three. Recently, Beijing has also urged local authorities to develop plans for offering free preschool education.
China stands among the most expensive countries in the world to raise children, according to a study by the China-based YuWa Population Research Institute. The average cost of raising a child to the age of 17 in China amounts to $75,700.
In January, official statistics indicated that China’s population declined for the third consecutive year in 2024. The country saw 9.54 million births in 2024, a slight increase from the previous year. However, China’s overall population continued to shrink.
China’s population of 1.4 billion is also rapidly aging, further exacerbating Beijing’s demographic concerns.
Source: https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c776xgex02jo?at_medium=RSS&at_campaign=rss
