China is offering couples nearly $3,000 to have a third child to boost birth rate figures

A city in China is offering couples almost $3,000 to have a third child.

China is already one of the world’s most populated countries in the world and it is trying to encourage its citizens to have more children.

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Parents who have a third child in the city Hangzhou, east China, will be granted 20,000 yuan ($2,900; £2,400) as a one-off subsidy for expanding their family this year courtesy of the city’s government.

Local media outlet Zhejiang Daily also reported that parents having a second baby will receive about $720 (£600), citing a policy that was approved at a local government congress on Wednesday (22 February).

The subsidies for parents aren’t solely for those living in Hangzhou.

In Wenzhou, a city in southeast China, couples could be offered up to 3,000 yuan ($430; £360) in subsidies for each child they have, according to notices published by the local government on 15 February.

In the north east, parents have receive a subsidy of up to $72 (£60) a month until a child is three years old in the city of Shenyang.

Meanwhile, in provinces like Shanghai and Shanxi, couples are being offered an increased number of paid marriage leave days – up to 30 days - so they can tie the knot, according to news outlet people’s daily Health. Usually Chinese employees are given three days of paid marriage leave.

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The call for more kids comes seven years after China relaxed its population planning policies in 2015, when the ‘one-child’ policy was replaced by a ‘two-child policy’. The one-child policy was implemented in 1980 to control population growth.

However in January this year, it was confirmed that China’s population started shrinking for the first time in 60 years.

In 2022 the population dropped by 850,000 in 2022 to 1.4118 billion which was part due to the Covid-19 pandemic, according to the National Bureau of Statistics. The country also struggles with falling birth rates and an aging population.

Encouraging Chinese citizens to have more babies isn’t as simple as it sounds, as millennials are not getting married due to cost concerns and personal choices.

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It is seen as unacceptable for couples to have children out of wedlock, but due to the falling population, a Chinese province lifted restrictions to increase the country’s birth rate.

National policies regarding reproduction do not explicitly stop women from having babies, however proof of marriage is usually required for parents to access free services like prenatal healthcare, maternity leave and job protection

The health commission for Sichuan announced in January that it will allow unmarried people to have children and the number of birth registrations would no longer be restricted.

Before the change, the commission had only permitted married couples to have up to two kids registered with local authorities.

The new measures will remain in place for the next five years.