CHINA yesterday announced a slew of perks aimed at encouraging families to have more babies as birth rates hit a record low.

The world’s most populous country has been facing a rapidly aging workforce and its weakest population growth in decades.

Although China ended its “one-child rule” in 2016 and last year allowed couples to have three children, birth rates have slipped over the past five years.

The policy guidelines issued yesterday by 17 government agencies including the National Health Commission, which mark the most comprehensive notice at a national level, urge both the central and provincial governments to increase spending on reproductive health and improve childcare services nationwide.

The supporting measures include better maternal care services and public-benefit childcare services, improved maternity and parental leave policies, preferential policies on housing and taxation, and the fostering of fertility-friendly workplaces, according to the guidelines.

The commission said the measures were crucial for “promoting the long-term balanced development of the population.”

It said it would carry out reproductive health promotion to enhance public awareness while “preventing unintended pregnancy and reducing abortions that are not medically necessary.”

All provinces must also ensure they provide enough nurseries for children aged 2 to 3 by the end of the year in a bid to reduce a severe shortage of childcare services.

Richer Chinese cities have been doling out tax and housing credits, educational benefits and even cash incentives to encourage women to have more children, and the latest guidelines seek to push all provinces to roll out such measures.

The authority said it would guide local governments to gradually include assisted reproductive technology in its national medical system.

After four decades in which China’s population has grown from over 950 million to 1.4 billion, the country’s population growth is expected to be negative soon, the commission said in a report released earlier this month.

Having grown by 2.04 million in 2020, the population grew by only 480,000 in 2021, the lowest growth in 60 years. The total fertility rate has dropped below 1.3 in recent years, and the country is expected to enter a stage of severe aging around 2035, with more than 30% of the population older than 60.

While the continuing impacts of the COVID-19 epidemic may have been a factor that year, women’s reluctance to have children has become an increasingly evident trend. Higher costs of living and a cultural shift as people grow used to smaller families have been also cited as reasons.

The declining population growth will undoubtedly aggravate the problem of an aging population, and negatively impact economic and social development.

The State Council, China’s Cabinet, released the Decision to Optimize Policies for Balanced Development of the Population last year.

To implement the decision, various local governments have made policies according to their actual conditions to give subsidies to women who give birth, provide them with longer maternity leave or other parental benefits or introduced job protection measures for mothers.

(SD-Xinhua)