By South China Morning Post | Created at 2024-11-19 11:06:42 | Updated at 2024-11-19 13:18:13
2 hours ago
A far-off county in northwestern China’s Gobi Desert, which averages just five newborns every month, is offering a generous subsidy of up to 100,000 yuan (US$13,812) for families having more than one child.
The government of Subei, a Mongolian autonomous county in Gansu province that measures over 66,000 square km (25,482 square miles) but has only 15,000 permanent residents, is struggling to grow its population amid a looming demographic crisis facing China.
Vowing to spend “real money” to support fertility, the Subei government said in a post on its website last week that the directive would provide tiered financial support over three years for couples with a second or third child.
It is one of the highest cash rewards offered in China to encourage childbirth, as local governments have rolled out their own incentives in recent years.
But Zhao Xudong, a professor from Beijing-based Renmin University’s School of Social Research, questioned where the money would come from, as well as the sustainability of subsidies.
Zhao said Subei represented a somewhat “extreme” case amid China’s demographic shift.
