FROM EIR DAILY ALERT

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Will China Reward Bigger Families?

July 12, 2018 (EIRNS)—China may reward families for raising a second child or more beginning next year—or even earlier—Zhang Hui writes in the Global Times today. This would be a total reversal from China’s 1979-2015 “one-child policy.” Zhang bases his story on reports that China’s National Health Commission is formally studying such proposals, and on his discussions with demographers. He writes that China’s fertility rate was 1.7 in 2016, while its Statistical Yearbook for 2017 failed to disclose the fertility rate.

Northeast China’s Liaoning Province has been the first to introduce incentives for parents to have two children. Liaoning’s population development plan for 2016-2030, issued last week, said that the provincial government will improve policies on personal taxes, education, social welfare, and housing to provide more incentives to a family of four, in order to lighten the load of raising children. “Experts noted that Liaoning’s policy is likely to be adopted across the country, but with even stronger incentives,” Zhang writes.