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China on Tuesday announced a slew of benefits aimed at encouraging families to have more babies, as the birth rate hit a record low and officials warned that the population will begin to shrink by 2025.
The world’s most populous country has been grappling with a looming demographic crisis as it faces a rapidly ageing workforce, a slowing economy and the weakest population growth in decades.
Although Beijing ended its draconian “one-child policy” in 2016 and allowed couples to have three children last year, the birth rate has been falling over the past five years.
Policy guidance issued by the National Health Commission on Tuesday urged central and provincial governments to increase spending on reproductive health and improve childcare services across the country.
They asked local governments to “implement aggressive birth support measures” including subsidies, tax rebates, better health insurance, and education, housing and employment support for young families.
All provinces must also ensure adequate childcare for two to three-year-olds by the end of the year to reduce the acute shortage of childcare services.
China’s wealthier cities have been handing out taxes and housing credits, education benefits and even cash incentives to encourage women to have more children, and the latest guidelines aim to push such measures in all provinces.
China’s birth rate slipped to 7.52 births per 1,000 people last year, the lowest level since records began in 1949, when communist China was founded, according to the National Bureau of Statistics.
Rising living costs and cultural shifts are blamed for the decline in babies as people get used to smaller families.
Health officials warned earlier this month that China’s population will begin to shrink by 2025.
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