China mulls financial incentives to encourage couples to have a 2nd child

TIL Desk/World/Beijing-China is mulling financial incentives to encourage couples to have a second child, as surveys show that many are reluctant to expand their families due to economic constraints, a media report said. Wang Pei’an, vice-minister of the National Health and Family Planning Commission, revealed the potential move at a social welfare conference.

Top decision-makers last year relaxed the more than four-decade-old family planning policy to allow, if not encourage, all Chinese couples to have a second child. Nationwide, the change led to 17.8 million births in 2016, an increase of more than 1.3 million compared with the previous year and the biggest annual increase in 20 years.

“That fully met the expectations, but barriers still exist and must be addressed,” Wang told the conference. “To have a second child is the right of each family in China, but affordability has become a bottleneck that undermines the decision.” A survey by the commission in 2015 found that 60 per cent of families polled expressed reluctance to have a second baby largely due to economic constraints.