China population: Amid its declining birth rate, China has introduced its first nationwide childcare subsidy, offering parents 3,600 yuan (approximately $500) annually for each child under the age of three, BBC reported.
Announced by state broadcaster CCTV, the policy will be applied retroactively from January 1, 2024. Families with children born between 2022 and 2024 will also be eligible for partial payments. Each child may receive up to 10,800 yuan in total support.
According to state media, the subsidy will assist approximately 20 million families.
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The announcement follows a series of local initiatives aimed at encouraging childbirth. In March, the city of Hohhot began offering up to 100,000 yuan per child to couples with at least three children. Shenyang, a city northeast of Beijing, currently provides 500 yuan per month for families with a third child under the age of three.
China’s birth rate has continued to decline, despite the end of the one-child policy in 2015. Official data shows 9.54 million births were recorded in 2024, a slight increase from the previous year, but the country’s population has still decreased for the third consecutive year.
China’s population stands at around 1.4 billion, with a rapidly ageing demographic posing further challenges. A study by the YuWa Population Research Institute reports that raising a child to age 17 in China costs an average of $75,700, making child-rearing among the most expensive in the world relative to income.
