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Chinese authorities released a comprehension package of measures including discouraging abortions, making fertility treatment more accessible and making housing policies more favourable for households with more than one child, in an effort to boost birth rates.
Households that have more than one child but don’t own a house will be able to withdraw their contribution to the Housing Provident Fund based on their actual rents, according to the guidelines released by 17 government departments including the National Health Commission and the National Development and Reform Commission. Currently, withdrawals from the fund is capped at a certain level. For instance, the cap in the city of Shanghai is set 3,000 yuan per month.
Cities with condition should appropriately raise the maximum size of borrowing from the Housing Provident Fund for multi-child households when they buy their first homes, according to the guidelines.
In addition, support measures from taxation and insurance to education would be improved and implemented, with local governments encouraged to boost infant care services and family friendly workplaces, the regulators said.
The authority will also carry out reproductive health promotion to enhance public awareness while “preventing unintended pregnancy and reducing abortions that are not medically necessary,” it said.
The authority will also guide local governments to gradually include assisted reproductive technology in its national medical system and technology such as IVF is typically very expensive in China and not accessible to unmarried women, according to the guidelines.
The measures were crucial for “promoting the long-term balanced development of the population.” The number of abortions carried out stood above 9.5 million between 2015 to 2019, according to a National Health Commission report published at the end of 2021.
Prior to the guidelines, many Chinese cities have unveiled policy measures to support home purchases by households with two or three children, including relaxing purchase restrictions, increasing loan amounts from the housing provident funds and offering subsidies for home purchases. Related…
For instance, Hangzhou city, capital of East China’s Zhejiang province, said earlier in August that the maximum loans three-child households can borrow from the Housing Provident Fund when they buy their first homes will be increased by 20%.
According to data compiled by China Index Academy, nearly 70 cities have introduced more than 80 housing policies targeting households with more than one child, with measures including increasing the number of houses they can purchase, lowering downpayment ratio, raise the maximum borrowing from the Housing Provident Fund, lowering mortgage rates and providing home purchase subsidies, etc.
The number of new births in several Chinese provinces hit the lowest in 60 years in 2021 and official now expect the country’s population to start to shrink ahead of 2025. Some experts say that China’s birth rate will continue to shrink for “more than a century.” Read more …