As the Chinese population shrinks, cities announce new childbirth incentives

Along similar lines, According to a notification issued by the local administration on Tuesday, mothers in Jinan, the capital city of eastern Shandong province, who give birth to a second or third child this year would receive a childcare subsidy of 600 yuan (7250 Rs) per month until the child reaches three.

Similarly, a childcare subsidy of at least 500 yuan per child per month up until the age of three will be provided to qualified families with two or more children in the city of Yichang in central Hubei province, the local government said at the end of December.

The move comes against the backdrop of the relaxation of the strict one-child policy China followed till January 2016. In view of the declining birth rate, China introduced a three-child policy in May 2021.

The shrinking population could be a significant impediment to china’s ambition of taking over the US economy size. It is also predicted that India may take over China as the most populous country this year.

Independent demographer, He Yafu, estimates that there will be a decline in the number of babies born in 2022 since 2021. However, it shall be noted that in 2021 10.6 million babies were born in China, which was the lowest since its founding in 1949.

The shrink has been way quicker than what was anticipated by experts. The United Nations, as recently as 2019, predicted that China’s population would peak in 2031 and then begin to drop. However, by last year, the UN had altered that prediction to place the peak at the beginning of 2022. It is presently anticipated that China will lose 110 million people by 2050 and reduce to nearly half its current population by the end of the century.

The shrinking population would heavily impact the Chinese economy as it would also decrease the country’s labour force. However, experts claim that the problem would be solved by amending the retirement laws of the country, which currently stand at 60 for men and 55 for women. Countries like Japan have been able to do that, although the Chinese leadership claimed it had no immediate plans to push the retirement age.