Broad-based system needed to boost fertility

Medical staff at the People's Hospital of Yuping county, Tongren city, Guizhou province, care for newborns on Jan 2, 2024. China's health minister has highlighted the establishment of a childbirth subsidy system, the expansion of childcare services and ensuring the implementation of maternity leave as key steps to building a birth-friendly society and tackling China's demographic challenges. The nation's total fertility rate — the average number of babies born to each woman of reproductive age — fell to around 1 last year, and a low fertility trend has persisted for over three decades, said Lei Haichao, minister of the National Health Commission, in an article released by the commission on Thursday. The minister said that the central and local governments had dedicated great efforts to tackling demographic challenges in the past decade, such as adjusting family planning policies, strengthening population surveys and launching a string of supportive measures ranging from tax exemptions and maternity subsidies to leave benefits. As varying levels of cash incentives have already been introduced by local governments, Lei said efforts will be made to integrate them and formulate a wide-ranging, basic system aimed at subsidizing childcare.