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Beijing (AFP) – China announced on Tuesday a series of benefits for families to have more children, given the drop in the birth rate (at a historical low) and the possibility that the population will decrease in 2025, according to the authorities.
Policy guidelines released Tuesday by the National Health Commission (NHC) urge central and provincial governments to increase spending on reproductive health and improve child care services.
They call on local governments to “develop active fertility support measures,” including subsidies, tax cuts, better health insurance, as well as support for education, housing and work for young families.
The nation’s wealthiest cities give housing and tax credits, educational benefits, and even cash incentives to encourage women to have more children.
So the latest guidelines seek to pressure the rest of the country to take similar measures.
All provinces will have to ensure that there are enough nurseries for children aged two to three years by the end of the year, in an attempt to reduce the serious shortage of childcare services.
The most populous country in the world, with more than 1.41 billion inhabitants in 2021 (according to World Bank data), is facing an imminent demographic crisis, which threatens its economic growth due to the rapid aging of its working-age population.
Despite Beijing ending its draconian “one child” rule in 2016, and last year allowing couples to have three children, birth rates have been down for five years, and the country is expected to lose population from 2025.
The total fertility rate has fallen below 1.3 children per family in recent years and the country is expected to enter a phase of rapid aging around 2035, with more than 30% of the population over 60 years of age. according to the CNS.
The cost of living and cultural changes as people got used to having families with fewer members explain this decline.
The world population is expected to reach 8 billion people in November 2022, according to UN projections that point to India being on track to overtake China as the world’s most populous country by 2023.
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