- China is offering couples a subsidy to have children. The country’s government will pay $500 per year until the child is three years old. The move comes as concerns about China’s birth rate grow. Some parts of the country are paying considerably more to couples that have kids.
China, like many other countries, is worried about its birth rate—and it’s offering would-be parents a financial incentive to have children.
The country’s government on Monday rolled out a new subsidy program, which will offer parents 3,600 yuan (about $500) per year for each child up until they reach the age of 3. Subsidies will start from this year, with partial subsidies for children under 3 born prior to 2025.
China’s population was down for the third consecutive year in 2024. Rising child care costs, economic concerns and job uncertainty are being pointed to as the reason. It’s a substantial about-face for the nation, which from 1980 through 2015, adopted a one-child policy. (It began allowing families to have two children in 2016 and three children in 2021.)
China’s central government will pay the $500 subsidy, though some experts question if that amount will be enough to encourage couples to start families.
Some provinces are upping the ante. Hohhot, in Inner Mongolia, for instance, is offering up to 100,000 yuan (just under $14,000) per child to families with three or more kids. That’s a 2,000% increase over what it began offering in 2023. That subsidy will be paid out at a rate of 10,000 yuan per year until the child turns 10.
China’s population is getting older, wealthier, and better educated. Two decades ago, China’s median age was 32; now, it’s just past 40. What’s greatly concerning officials is the decline in the country’s working-age population, which fuels its manufacturing industries. That industry is already under pressure from the trade war with the U.S., which is further threatened by Donald Trump’s tariff threats.
Babies today won’t immediately fix that, but it will protect China’s interests in years to come. (Children as young as 6 years old are already being offered AI classes in the country.) Subsidies might help, but Emma Zang, a professor at Yale University, tells NBC News that a more effective strategy would be an investment in infrastructure, such as affordable child care, parental leave, and job protections for women.
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