China Encourages Birth Rates, Residents Are Given Free Money And Milk Incentives

JAKARTA - In an effort to overcome the continued decline in birth rates, China has started offering various incentives to encourage young couples to marry and have children.

Reporting from the Reuters page, one of his latest steps is to provide subsidies for children care and free milk for new mothers.

The policy was introduced in several regions, including Hohhot, the capital of Inner Mongolia, as part of efforts to increase the country's declining population.

In March 2025, Hohhot announced a series of child care subsidies. One of the highlights is the gift of a cup of free milk every day for mothers who give birth after March 1.

This is part of a program called 'Combursement Care Action A Cup of Milk for Mothers' which aims to support the health of mothers after giving birth. In addition, mothers who give birth will also receive electronic vouchers worth 3 thousand yuan or Rp6.8 million from two large milk companies, Yili and China Mengniu Dairy.

In addition to providing free milk, Hohhot also offers direct financial assistance to families who have children. The couple who have the first child will receive one payment of 10 thousand yuan or Rp22.8 million.

For the second child, the family will get 10 thousand yuan per year until the child is five years old. Meanwhile, the third child will receive an annual subsidy of 10 thousand yuan to the age of 10 years. The amount of this subsidy is almost equivalent to double the annual income of the local population.

These measures are part of a larger national policy to deal with the decline in the number of births in China. By 2024, China's population experienced a decline for the third year in a row, with the number of marriages also dropping sharply, at 20%, the largest decline recorded in the country's history.

This is due to various factors, including the one child policy which was implemented between 1980 and 2015, rapid urbanization, and high cost of living and raising children.

Since 2021, the Chinese government has allowed couples to have up to three children, but this policy has not succeeded significantly in increasing birth rates. Therefore, the government is now focusing on providing financial incentives and child care as a way to address the deepening demographic problem.

In addition, at the annual Chinese parliamentary meeting, Prime Minister Li Qiang also announced a policy to provide subsidies for children care and free pre-school education.

The main goal of this policy is to encourage young couples to start a family and provide a greater boost to birth rates amid the demographic challenges facing this country.

With these steps, China hopes to overcome a decline in birth rates that threaten population stability in the long term, although major challenges still have to be faced in creating a more family-friendly environment in the country.