Save articles for later

Add articles to your saved list and come back to them any time.

Hong Kong: Chinese authorities are launching programs across more than 20 cities to encourage women to marry and have children in a fresh bid to boost the country’s falling birth rate.

The Family Planning Association, a national body that implements the government’s population and fertility measures, is launching the pilot projects to create a “new-era marriage and childbearing culture” to foster a friendly child bearing environment, the state backed Global Times reported on Monday.

A man holds a baby near other relatives at the Great Wall of China. The state wants families to have more children.Credit: Getty

The focus of the projects are promoting marrying, recommending people have children at appropriate ages, encouraging parents to share child-rearing responsibilities and curbing high “bride prices” and other outdated customs.

Cities included in the pilot include the manufacturing hub Guangzhou and Handan in Hebei province. The association already launched projects in 20 cities including Beijing last year, it said.

“The society needs to guide young people more on the concept of marriage and childbirth,” demographer He Yafu told the Communist Party’s tabloid.

The projects come amid a flurry of measures provinces are rolling out to spur people to have children, including tax incentives, housing subsidies, and free or subsidised education for having a third child.

China implemented a rigid one-child policy from 1980 until 2015, which became the root of many of its demographic challenges that have allowed India to become the world’s most populous nation. The limit has since been raised to three children.

Concerned about China’s first population drop in six decades and its rapid ageing, the government’s political advisers proposed in March that single and unmarried women should have access to egg freezing and IVF treatment, among other services to boost the country’s fertility rate.

Many women have been put off having more children or any at all due to the expense of childcare and having to stop their careers, with gender discrimination still a key hurdle.

Reuters

Get a note directly from our foreign correspondents on what’s making headlines around the world. Sign up for the weekly What in the World newsletter here.

Most Viewed in World

From our partners

Source: Read Full Article