Beijing:
Amid declining birth rates in the country, Chinese authorities have issued a guideline outlining a range of prenatal and postnatal support policies to promote long-term balanced population development.
These measures include improved maternal care and public childcare services, improved maternity and parental leave policies, according to the guideline released Tuesday by the National Health Commission.
The measure also includes preferential housing and tax policies, and the promotion of fertility-friendly workplaces, the Xinhua news agency reported.
In recent years, China has seen a growing number of people covered by maternity insurance. In 2021, the number reached 240 million, 1.5 times as many as in 2012.
China’s state media said the recently released guideline said local governments could explore ways to extend maternity insurance coverage to workers with flexible working hours.
The directive also mentioned other measures, such as building a fertility-friendly workplace, encouraging flexible working practices and safeguarding people’s legal labor and employment rights and interests.
In the seventh nationwide census of 2020, mainland China’s population showed an average growth of 0.53 percent per year over the past decade.
The birth rate in China has been falling since 2017, despite the easing of the ‘one-child policy’ to avert an emerging demographic crisis.
Last year, Beijing enacted a new population and family planning law that allows Chinese couples to have three children, ostensibly in response to couples’ reluctance to have additional children due to rising costs.
The decision to admit the third child was implemented after the 10-year census in 2020 showed China’s population was growing at the slowest pace in history, reaching 1.412 billion people.
China’s demographic issue is expected to worsen as the age of 60 has risen 18.7 percent to 264 million people, according to census data.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by DailyExpertNews staff and has been published from a syndicated feed.)