China on Monday rolled out an annual childcare subsidy of 3,600 yuan ($502) until age three, as authorities look to spur a flagging birth rate.
Authorities are concerned that fewer young people are choosing to have children, and the number of elderly people is increasing.
The high cost of childcare and education, as well as job uncertainty and a slowing economy, are among the concerns that have discouraged many young Chinese from getting married and starting a family.
Subsidies will start retroactively from the start of this year, with partial subsidies for those younger than three who were born prior to 2025, in a policy expected to benefit more than 20 million families of toddlers and infants, the official Xinhua news agency said.
The plan was an "important national livelihood policy", and direct cash subsidies would help "reduce the cost of family childbirth and parenting," the National Health Commission said.
As of the end of 2024, China had 310 million people aged 60 and above. China’s total population is around 1.41 billion, based on Worldometer’s elaboration of the latest United Nations data.
Population decline
China's population fell for a third consecutive year in 2024, with experts warning of a worsening downturn, after decades of falling birth rates following a one-child policy adopted from 1980 to 2015, coupled with rapid urbanisation.
In the past two years, provinces nationwide have started handing out childcare subsidies in amounts that vary considerably, from 1,000 yuan ($139) a child to up to 100,000 yuan ($13,931), including housing subsidies.
The central government will fund the new national policy instead of local authorities, Xinhua said.
Raising children in the country is among the costliest globally when measured against income levels, according to a Chinese study.
Authorities rolled out a series of "fertility-friendly" measures in 2024 to tackle the coming decade's expected challenge of the entry into retirement of roughly 300 million people, equivalent to almost the entire US population.
