China is rolling out its first nationwide subsidy aimed at encouraging families to have more children, as the country grapples with a deepening population decline and rising child-rearing costs.
Starting this year, parents will receive 3,600 yuan about $500 or £375 annually for each child under the age of three, according to state broadcaster CCTV. The policy, announced Monday, will be applied retroactively from January 1 and could benefit roughly 20 million families, state media reports.
The payout, totalling up to 10,800 yuan per child over three years, is part of a broader push by the ruling Communist Party to reverse declining birth rates, which have persisted despite the end of the one-child policy nearly a decade ago.
Families with children born between 2022 and 2024 are also eligible for partial subsidies under the scheme.
The move comes amid a raft of local initiatives to incentivize childbirth. In March, the northern city of Hohhot began offering as much as 100,000 yuan per newborn to couples with at least three children. Shenyang, in northeast China, offers 500 yuan monthly to families with a third child under age three.
China’s top leadership has also urged local authorities to expand access to free preschool education as part of easing the financial burden on young families.
The concern is pressing, raising a child to age 17 in China now costs an average of $75,700, according to research by the YuWa Population Research Institute. That makes child-rearing in China among the most expensive globally, relative to household income.
Despite a slight increase in births 9.54 million babies were born in 2024, up from the year before China’s overall population has continued to shrink for the third consecutive year, according to the National Bureau of Statistics.
With a population of 1.4 billion that is ageing rapidly and a declining number of births, Beijing faces growing pressure to reshape its policies before the demographic trend begins to impact long-term economic growth and social stability.
Erizia Rubyjeana
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