China offers baby bonuses, with births on track for new low in 2021

Name: China expands two-child policy to three
Uploaded: 2021-07-21T11:00:10.000Z
Duration: 2 min 4 s
Description: China expands two-child policy to three

Authorities dangle a range of support to defray education and child care costs

But officials caution that fertility decisions are complex and the short-term goal is to smooth out the decline in births

Reading Time:4 minutes

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Even fewer children are expected to be born in China this year. Photo: AFP

Zhuang Pinghui

Published: 7:00pm, 21 Jul 2021Updated: 8:31pm, 21 Jul 2021

China will roll out a range of support to encourage couples to have more children but health authorities are cautious about prospects for a baby boom, with the number of births expected to hit a new low this year.

The measures – ranging from lower childbirth and education costs to the abolition of some birth control penalties – follows the Communist Party’s decision in May to relax the country’s two-child policy to allow couples to have three children.

Yu Xuejun, deputy minister of the National Health Commission, said on Wednesday that based on the figures for the first half of 2021, “the number of births and fertility levels will still trend lower this year”.

“At the same time, the population continues to age and there will be pressure to establish long-term balanced population development,” Yu said.

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China expands two-child policy to three

The number of newborns peaked at 17.8 million in 2016 but has fallen since then, reaching a five-decade low of 12 million last year.

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