BEIJING: China on Monday (Oct 28) introduced measures to improve family planning and parenting measures in a bid to increase the number of births, a statement from the State Council, or Cabinet, showed after two consecutive years of a decreasing population.

The birth rate hit a record high last year in China, which has a population of 1.4 billion, as its compatriot India overtook it to become the world’s most populous country.

The State Council called for efforts to build “a new culture of marriage and procreation” by spreading respect for procreation, marriage at the appropriate age and sharing parental responsibility for custody of children.

Proposed measures include better maternity insurance, maternity leave, subsidies and medical resources for children, with the Cabinet urging local governments to budget for child care and levy preferential taxes and fees for these services.

“Supporting childbirth at this stage is of great importance,” said Yang Chang, chief policy analyst at Zhongtai Securities Research Institute, adding that Monday’s announcement would serve as a model for future measures.

While the number of women of childbearing age between 15 and 49 is likely to decline and the desire to have children is not expected to increase anytime soon, policy support is essential to help reverse the downward trend in births, he added.

Even though China abandoned its 35-year-old one-child policy in 2015, it has struggled to increase its birth rate, especially as this period saw the rural population flock to cities to find work.

Education is another targeted area, with local authorities urged to step up financial support for students from disadvantaged families, with a mention of “gradually expanding the scope of free education”.

Local authorities were also asked to help ease the burden of housing and employment, by giving more help to families with multiple children to buy a home and strengthening protections for pregnant women and new mothers among workers.

Setting up non-commercial platforms for young people to make friends, date and get married is another way to encourage births, the Cabinet said.

The measures announced Monday follow a survey this month by health authorities seeking to understand the factors that determine attitudes toward procreation and fear related to offspring.