China’s ‘Three-Child Policy’ formally passed into law.
- Posted By
10Pointer
- Categories
World Affairs
- Published
24th Aug, 2021
-
Context
China has formally revised its laws to allow couples to have up to three children, to boost the birth rate.
What is China’s three-child policy?
- In May this year, China announced that it would allow couples to have up to three children.
- Decision has now been formally passed into law, along with several resolutions aimed at boosting the birth rate and "reducing the burden" of raising a child.
- These include
- supportive measures, which will be conducive to improving our country's population structure, fulfilling the country's strategy of actively coping with an ageing population and maintaining the advantage, endowment of human resources".
- Cancelling the "social maintenance fee" - a financial penalty couples pay for having children beyond the limit.
- Encouraging local governments to offer parental leave.
- Increasing women's employment rights.
- Improving child care infrastructure.
Decline in birth rate in China
- Recent census data has shown a steep decline in the birth rate.
Earlier policy
- In 2016, China had scrapped its decades-old one-child policy to replace it with a two-child limit, but this failed to lead to a sustained upsurge in births.
- The cost of raising children in cities has deterred many Chinese couples.
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