China's hard demographic situation is the subject of discussion in almost all corner of the globe. It was written and said a lot about it.
The Chinese population declined in 2022 for the first time in over 60 years. At the same time, the lowest birth rate was recorded in the 37-year measurement perspective: only 6.77 births per 1,000 people.
The number of married couples is falling. Last year, 6,83 million couples faced civilian officials in China, at least for 37 years.
The central government and local governments take various measures to curb these unused trends.
In 2016, a policy of 1 kid was abandoned, which was initiated in 1978. The anticipation of legally having 2 children for couples born during this policy was introduced. In 2021, the authorities went 1 step further: 3 children could be legally owned in China.
It needs to be stressed here that the policy of 1 kid afraid only urban residents and never included couples from cultural minorities. In another words, the politics of 1 kid were governed by Han Chinese and urban hukou (registration).
For any time the authorities of various levels have been introducing various incentives, financial reliefs, cash vouchers, housing grants, launching preferential credits, extending maternity and care leave, offering financial allowances, systems of discounts for services (medical, transport, social, etc.). However, the effects of these measures are negligible.
Recently Chinese companies have come to aid government authorities and agencies unexpectedly.
One of them is 1 of the world's largest online travel agencies Ctrip Group Co., Ltd. (携程集团有限公司), known as Trip.com. It's a listed company in China and the US.
Since July this year the company has introduced financial incentives for employees (and there are over 32 1000 of them) who will decide to have children. Each worker with a minimum of 3 years of experience will receive an yearly cash allowance of RMB 10 1000 (about PLN 5622) for each newborn child. This allowance will be paid from birth until the kid has completed 5 years.
Liang Jian Zhang (梁建章), president of the Board of Ctrip Group announcing this program stated that the company plans to invest in various social policies and incentives for employees to have children around 1 billion RMB (about PLN 562.22 million).
It proposes that the board of directors should increase financial assistance for families with children, especially those with many children, in order to reduce the financial burden of raising children borne by workers, in order to aid more young people meet their desire to have many children.
The president of Ctrip Group sees the crucial function of companies in creating the right conditions for young people who decide to grow their family, for first and subsequent children. At the same time, it considers that the Chinese government should immediately introduce a wide taxation credit for families with 2 or 3 children, due to the fact that specified an action is comparatively simple and can be activated rapidly and the Chinese families will feel it the fastest. In addition, in his opinion, at least 2 to 5% China's GDP should be utilized to encourage Chinese fertility so that the birth rate can be raised to an average in developed countries, or to about 1.6. There is besides a request to improvement the education system, subsidise the acquisition of housing for multi-children families and build more nursery or kindergartens.
Ctrip is not the only company that has decided to introduce rules encouraging employees to have more children.
An example may be another listed company QiaoYin City Management Co., Ltd. (侨银城市管理股份有限公司), which in June this year offered to its employees, among others:
- reimbursement of regular expenses arising from childcare (such as milk powder or diapers for children from 0 to 3 years),
- paying the costs of nursery and kindergarten, as well as
- payment of a one-off bonus of RMB 100 1000 (about PLN 56227) to workers who have 3 children.
Another company, Beijing Dabei Agricultural discipline and Technology Group Co., Ltd. (北京大北农科技集团股份有限公司) has since January 2022 extended the formal ("official") paid maternity leave:
- 1 period for the first child,
- 3 months for the second kid and
- 12 months for the 3rd child.
At the same time, the company grants a one-off bonus of
- 30 000 RMB (approx. 16 863 PLN) on the first,
- 60,000 RMB (approx. PLN 33,725) for the second and
- 90 000 RMB (approx. PLN 50 588) on the 3rd child.
Young fathers employed in the company will receive 9 days of "Dad" leave for childcare.
Demographic problems are not only a challenge for the authorities, but besides a serious concern for society as a whole. The deepening of current trends can contribute to a crucial acceleration of the ageing population, translate as a consequence into economical situations, reduce taxation revenues and contributions to the pension system, which is already heavy burdened.
So it is no wonder that more and more institutions and people are joining the fight to reverse negative demographic trends.
In addition to many another factors for low fertility in China, the advanced costs of childcare and education are very much contributed.
According to advisory companies, the average cost of raising a Chinese kid in the city from birth until they were 18 years old is estimated to be 485 000 RMB (approx. 272 593 PLN), corresponding to 6.9 times the national GDP per capita.
Source:
https://static.nfapp.southcn.com
Author: 梁安基 Andrzej Z. Liang, 上海 Shanghai, 中国 China
Email: [email protected]
Editorial: Leszek B.
Email: [email protected]
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