China Offers Subsidies to Boost Birthrate, Spur Growth

China’s population fell by 3.39 million to 1.405 billion in 2025, marking the 4th straight year of decline, following a 1.39 million drop in 2024. It also marked the lowest population since 2017, with the total number of births declining to 7.92 million in 2025, its lowest in decades, from 9.54 million in 2024. Meanwhile, the number of deaths rose to 11.31 million from 10.93 million in 2024. China’s population continued to age in 2025, with those aged 60 and above numbering 323 million and accounting for 23% of the total population, up one percentage point from 2024. China’s population policy is emerging as a key part of its economic strategy, as Beijing rolls out its most wide-ranging push to boost a flagging birth rate. Beijing is looking at a total potential cost of around CNY 180 billion in 2026 to encourage births, according to Reuters estimates, as authorities grapple with undoing decades of strict population control that helped tackle poverty but reshaped Chinese families.

China is set to introduce nationwide cash subsidies to boost childbirth amid a persistent population decline that poses long-term economic risks, Bloomberg News reported Friday. Under the proposed policy, families would receive CNY 3,600 annually for each child born on or after January 1, 2025, continuing until the child turns three. Though not yet officially announced, the move signals Beijing’s growing urgency to tackle demographic challenges. Despite ending the one-child policy nearly a decade ago, the country’s birthrate has continued to fall, with only 9.54 million births recorded in 2024, the second-lowest number since the founding of the People’s Republic of China in 1949. Local governments reportedly have already begun offering incentives, including housing subsidies and lump-sum payments.