China unveils childcare subsidies in push to boost fertility
The high cost of childcare and education as well as job uncertainty and a slowing economy are among the concerns that have discouraged many young Chinese from getting married and starting a family.
Subsidies will start from this year, with partial subsidies for those younger than three who were born prior to 2025, in a policy expected to benefit more than 20 million families of toddlers and infants, the official Xinhua news agency said.
The plan was an "important national livelihood policy" and direct cash subsidies would help "reduce the cost of family childbirth and parenting", the National Health Commission said.
China's population fell for a third consecutive year in 2024, with experts warning of a worsening downturn, after decades of falling birth rates following a one-child policy adopted from 1980 to 2015, coupled with rapid urbanisation.
In the past two years provinces nationwide have started handing out childcare subsidies in amounts that vary considerably, from 1,000 yuan a child to up to 100,000 yuan, including housing subsidies.
The central government will fund the new national policy instead of local authorities, Xinhua said.
Authorities rolled out a series of "fertility friendly" measures in 2024 to tackle the coming decade's expected challenge of the entry into retirement of roughly 300 million people, equivalent to almost the entire U.S. population.
A nationwide scheme may offer some coordination and signal greater central commitment, said demographer Emma Zhang, a professor at Yale University, but called for greater efforts.
"Without sustained structural investment in areas like affordable childcare, parental leave, and job protections for women, the effect on fertility is likely to remain minimal," she added.
($1=7.1736 Chinese yuan renminbi)
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