Beijing, Jul 30 (PTI) China on Wednesday announced an allocation of 90 billion yuan (about USD 12.6 billion) to encourage couples to have more children as the country grapples with a deepening demographic crisis caused by declining birth rates.
The allocation will be made in the central budget this year for the issuance of childcare subsidies, said China’s Finance Ministry.
The fund, which is a transfer payment from the central budget, will assist local governments in issuing the subsidies, covering nearly 90 per cent of the total amount distributed, ministry official Guo Yang told a press conference.
The move follows the country’s recent introduction of a nationwide childcare subsidy programme, which sets a standard of 3,600 yuan (about USD 500) per year for each child under the age of three, and is expected to benefit more than 20 million families each year, state-run Xinhua news agency reported.
China’s demographic pressures are being intensified by declining birth rates, shrinking working-age population and increased life expectancy.
The demographic crisis is blamed on the decades-old one-child policy followed by the ruling Communist Party.
The policy was scrapped in 2016 amid warnings that the demographic crisis would seriously impact the economy, and all couples were permitted to have two children.
Its removal failed to make an impact, and China revised the population policy in 2021, allowing people to have three children.
The falling birth rates resulted in China losing its status as the most populous nation in the world to India in 2023. Its population also shrank for the second year in a row in 2023.
China’s population of the aged is also increasing, with the number of people aged 65 rising to 216 million, accounting for about 15 per cent of the population in 2024.
As the costs of pensions and geriatric care mounted, China last year raised the retirement age for men from 60 to 63 and for female office workers from 55 to 58 years. PTI KJV GRS
This report is auto-generated from PTI news service. ThePrint holds no responsibility for its content.