BEIJING: With China on track to record its first population decline in more than six decades, cities across the country have announced new cash incentives to encourage couples to have more children.
Couples having a third child or more in Shenzhen will be eligible for a cash allowance of 19,000 yuan (US$2,800) until the child turns three years old, according to a document released by the city's health commission on Tuesday.
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.
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 the country's economy in decades ahead.
Experts estimate that China's population may have started shrinking last year, with official figures set to be announced by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) next week.
A drop in China's population would be the first since a two-year decline in 1960-61 due to the impact of the Great Famine. The population 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.
A forecasted drop in China’s population last year would be the first since a two-year decline in 1960-61. (Photo: AFP)
In Jinan, the capital city of eastern Shandong province, mothers who give birth to a second or third child this year 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.
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 with more than one child.
In the city of Yichang in central Hubei province, 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 at the end of December.
In July 2021, 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.
Tang Zhongzhu, deputy mayor of the city, 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 would enjoy the benefits under the policy in 2022, with around 10 million yuan being cashed out.
He said the number of births in Panzhihua had increased by 1.62% compared with the year before, with the number of second children being born increasing by 5.58% and the number of third children jumping by 168.4%.
"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.
"A comparative analysis of the two-year birth population data shows that the people's enthusiasm for childbearing in our city is encouraged by the childcare subsidy policy, and the implementation of the policy has achieved initial results."
China's low fertility rate, though, is seen as a long way from being reversed. Loosening fertility restrictions will not be enough alone, independent demographers say, as young people are delaying marriages and childbearing plans.