Parents with children below the age of three can have annual parental leave of 10 or more days. AP
New Delhi: Chinese cities have started announcing new cash incentives to encourage couples to have more children as China grapples with a declining population graph–its first in more than six decades.
Couples having a third child or more in Shenzhen will be eligible for a cash allowance of 19,000 yuan (USD 2,800) until the child turns three years old, according to a document released by the city’s health commission on Tuesday.
Cash payments for having the first and second child will be 7,500 and 11,000 yuan, respectively, until the child turns three, said the document, which is seeking public opinion.
A few years after relaxing its one-child policy in January 2016, China introduced a three-child policy in May 2021 in response to the country’s declining birth rate, which is expected to weigh significantly on China’s economy in decades ahead.
According to experts, China’s population may have started shrinking last year, with official figures due to be announced by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) sometime next week.
The drop in China’s population will be the first since a two-year decline in 1960-61 due to the impact of the Great Famine. The population graph fell by around 10 million in 1960 and another 3.4 million in 1961 before rebounding by 14.4 million in 1962, according to official figures.
In Jinan, which is the capital city of eastern Shandong province, women who give birth to a second or third child in 2023 will receive a childcare subsidy of 600 yuan each month until he or she turns three, according to a notice released by the local government on Tuesday.
Potential mothers will also be entitled to 158 days of maternity leave for each child and fathers will receive at least 15. Parents with children below the age of three can have annual parental leave of 10 or more days.
The Jinan government also announced preferential policies on housing, healthcare and education for families that have more than one child.
Panzhihua, in Sichuan province, became the first city in China to offer subsidies to help families raise more children – a monthly allowance of 500 yuan per second or third child up to age of three. The city government had announced the move in July, 2021.
In Yichang–a city in central Hubei province, all eligible families with two or more children will receive a childcare subsidy of no less than 500 yuan each month per child until the age of three, the local government said in December 2022.
Tang Zhongzhu, deputy mayor of Panzhihua, said in October that the city had spent 950,000 yuan to subsidise 650 eligible children. He also estimated that more than 2,000 families enjoyed the benefits under the policy in 2022, with around 10 million yuan being cashed out.
According to an estimate by the local government, the number of births in Panzhihua had increased by 1.62 per cent compared with the year before, with the number of second children being born increasing by 5.58 per cent and the number of third children jumping by 168.4 per cent.
“The sharp increase in the birth of a third child is a result of the combined effect of the country’s implementation of the three-child policy from May 2021 and the city’s childcare subsidy policy,” Tang said.
Despite such incentives, China’s low fertility rate, is far from being reversed. Relaxing fertility restrictions will not be enough say experts and analysts, as young people are delaying marriages and childbearing plans with every passing year.
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