China population: district announces childcare allowance to help turn the tide on birth crisis

Longwan district in Wenzhou wants to give families who have two children 500 yuan (US$74) per month for each one under three years old

Demographers say China needs more policies to help cover the costs of childbirth, education and the impact of having kids on career development

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Beijing has endorsed a number of new policies to boost births, including allowing couples to have up to three children in August last year. Photo: Xinhua

Published: 7:00am, 13 Aug 2022Updated: 7:19am, 13 Aug 2022

Longwan district in Wenzhou, an important trading city, has announced plans to give families a childcare allowance to encourage more births.

Families with two children will receive 500 yuan (US$74) per month for each one under three years old, while couples who have three kids will be given 1,000 yuan per child.

The proposed policy, which was announced on Monday, is the latest attempt by Chinese authorities to boost births and roll back a looming demographic crisis that is being compounded by a fast-ageing population.

China’s population grew by 480,000 to 1.4126 billion last year, down from an increase of 2.04 million in 2020. Chinese mothers gave birth to 10.62 million babies in 2021, representing an 11.5 per cent fall from the year before.

In 2021, the number of births in Longwan district was 2,713, with a birth rate of 7.91 per cent, a slight decrease compared to 2020, according to the local statistics office.

The problem is more acute in other parts of the country. Babies born in Henan, for example, the country’s third-most-populous province, fell by 9.5 per cent in the first six months of 2022 compared to the same period a year earlier.

Some demographers are convinced China’s population peaked last year, while authorities officially estimate the population will start declining in a few years.