China population: millennial couples decry ‘unaffordable’ childcare as fertility rate falls
- A lack of affordable childcare, rising living costs and gruelling work hours are making many young Chinese think twice about having children
- China will have to increase childcare support to boost its flagging birth rate and avoid a population crisis in coming years, experts and parents say
This is the 14th in a series of stories about China’s once-a-decade census, which was conducted in 2020. The world’s most populous nation released its national demographic data in May and the figures will have far-reaching social policy and economic implications.
With her first child due in August, Getty He’s joy about becoming a mother is tinged with a host of worries about how the new family will stave off financial disaster.
Although she will receive 178 days paid maternity leave at the same rate as her monthly salary, it is what comes afterwards that is making her nervous – the cost of childcare.
“Every time I think about the pressure of work and childcare after maternity leave, I become apprehensive,” said the 34-year-old human resources manager from Guangzhou in south China.
“She or he hasn’t been born yet, but I’m pretty sure it will be my only child, because both my husband and I know we can’t afford a second.”
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China 2020 census records slowest population growth in decades
He is in a better situation than some Chinese, like freelancers or the unemployed, who receive no maternity leave at all. She is entitled to an allowance because she is in a stable job and has been paying maternity insurance for a sufficient period of time.
