On February 22, Hangzhou announced that for the first time this year, childcare subsidies will be granted to families with two or three children born to the same couple.
After sorting out, the Red Star News reporter found that in addition to Hangzhou, Jinan and other places have also successively introduced financial subsidy policies to encourage childbirth, especially the second and third child.
On February 20, the "Returning Hometown Experience" activity jointly initiated by the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs and the China Rural Governance Research Center of Wuhan University ended.
Among the data obtained from this activity, the topic of "nearly 30% of rural youths have no desire to have children" once rushed to the hot search on Weibo.
"Rural youths are the same as urban youths. Many people don't want to have children. Will the distribution of such subsidies really encourage everyone to have children?" Some netizens said.
In this regard, Yuan Xin, vice president of the Chinese Population Association and professor of the Institute of Population and Development, School of Economics, Nankai University, told the Red Star News reporter that China's population has experienced negative growth. Some measures can be taken to maintain a reasonable number of children, but the willingness to have children is not strong. It remains to be seen whether such subsidies will be effective for those
"I think not only should families with two and three children be encouraged, but families with one child should also be subsidized."
As the main author of the "Returning to Hometown" report, Lu Dewen, the China Rural Governance Research Center of Wuhan University, expressed that the most important thing is to establish a birth-friendly society for a reasonable population growth, especially for rural youth. Let their desire to have children disappear quickly.
Maternity subsidy policies have been introduced in many places:
Hangzhou and Jinan offer subsidies to families with two children and three children
On the afternoon of February 22, at the third plenary meeting of the third session of the 14th Hangzhou Municipal People's Congress, the Hangzhou Municipal Government's 2023 people's livelihood practical projects were decided.
For the first time this year, Hangzhou will provide childcare subsidies to families with two or three children born to the same couple, and the household registration of the newborn child is registered in Hangzhou. ten thousand yuan.
In an interview with Zhejiang Daily, a staff member of the Hangzhou Municipal Health and Health Commission said that based on the birth rate in 2022, the total amount of childcare subsidies issued this time is expected to be around 140 million yuan, covering 25,000 families.
On January 11, according to a report from Qilu.com, the Jinan Municipal Party Committee and the Municipal Government issued the "Jinan City Optimizing Childbirth Policy to Promote Long-term Balanced Population Development Implementation Plan", which stipulates that people born after January 1, 2023 with household registration in Jinan City in accordance with the childbirth policy For two- and three-child families, each child will receive a childcare subsidy of 600 yuan per month until the child is 3 years old.
Red Star News reporters found after sorting out that Shenyang, Changsha, Yunnan and other places have also recently promulgated plans to distribute maternity subsidies to families with two and three children.
In contrast, Shenzhen plans to provide maternity subsidies to families with one child.
In January of this year, the Shenzhen Municipal Health and Health Commission issued the "Shenzhen Childcare Subsidy Management Measures (Draft for Comment)", which intends to distribute childcare subsidies to citizens in a differentiated and progressive manner.
It stipulates that for those who give birth to their first child and register for household registration, a one-time maternity subsidy of 3,000 yuan will be issued, and an additional 1,500 yuan in childcare subsidies will be issued every year, with a cumulative subsidy of 7,500 yuan in three years.
For those who give birth to a second child and go through household registration, a one-time maternity subsidy of 5,000 yuan will be issued, and another 2,000 yuan in childcare subsidies will be issued every year, with a cumulative subsidy of 11,000 yuan in three years.
For those who give birth to a third child and go through household registration, a one-time maternity subsidy of 10,000 yuan will be issued, and an additional 3,000 yuan of childcare subsidies will be issued every year, with a cumulative subsidy of 19,000 yuan over three years.
On average, families with three children receive the most maternity subsidies each year.
"Nearly 30% of rural youth have no desire to have children" behind the hot search
Far from being pessimistic, this is just the current wishes of the respondents
In 2022, China's population will experience negative growth, and many places will issue subsidies to encourage births.
However, data show that whether in urban or rural areas, the willingness of contemporary young people to have children has declined significantly.
According to the “2023 Homecoming Experience” questionnaire survey, a total of 104,917 valid questionnaires were recovered, covering 425 cities/counties/districts in 34 provincial-level administrative regions of China, including 57,334 in rural areas, accounting for 54.6% of the total number of questionnaires, and 47,583 in urban areas , accounting for 45.4% of the total number of questionnaires.
According to the questionnaire data, 27.72% of young people have no desire to have children, 38.04% desire to have one child, 32.49% desire to have a second child, and 1.75% desire to have three or more children.
"The proportion of young people who do not want to have children is close to 30%, but this data is not the proportion of rural youths who do not want to have children, but the total proportion of rural and urban youth covered by the questionnaire." As the main author of the report, Wuhan University China Rural Governance Lu Dewen of the research center told the Red Star News reporter that if you look at it separately, the proportion of young people who do not want to have children in rural areas is about 24%, and the proportion of young people who do not want to have children in cities is about 31%.
However, Lu Dewen also said that such data cannot be said to be completely accurate, and it is far from being pessimistic about population growth.
"First of all, our questionnaire is conducted through Weibo. The young people who use Weibo and are willing to participate in the questionnaire have a relatively high level of knowledge. Such people are more open-minded and avant-garde, and relatively speaking, their willingness to have children is not strong. In addition , For those who participated in the questionnaire, this is just their current wish. No current wish to have children does not mean that they will never have children in the future. Once they meet someone they like or change their minds, they will change. But relatively speaking, young people who are willing to have children will generally not change much in the future."
Why is the willingness to bear children of rural youth groups also declining?
Experts: Increased costs + impact on ideas
However, Lu Dewen also said that even if it does not reach the nearly 30% stated on the Internet, about 24% of rural youths have no desire to have children, which is already a very high proportion.
According to the National Bureau of Statistics' 2021 "National Bureau of Statistics' Notice on Carrying out Surveys on Marriage Relationships among Rural Youths", relevant statistical departments in Zhejiang, Chongqing, Shandong, and Sichuan selected some areas from June to July to conduct corresponding surveys.
Taking Ningbo, Zhejiang as an example, among the local married or divorced rural youths, 62.5% had one child, 23.21% had a second child, 0.89% had a third child, and 13.39% of the respondents had no children. .
Lu Dewen said that now it seems that the proportion of about 24% of rural youths who have no desire to have children in this survey is lower than the proportion of about 31% of urban youths who have no desire to have children.
But this data shows a relatively consistent upward trend, that is to say, the changes in rural areas are consistent with those in cities.
Talking about the reasons for the decline in the willingness of rural youths to have children, unwillingness to have children or fewer children, Lu Dewen said that the reasons for this change are basically the same as the reasons for the decline in the willingness of urban youths to have children.
"In the past, having a second child in rural areas was the bottom line, at least two, but now the second child is the upper limit, and many couples don't want to have more than two children at most."
First of all, many rural youth choose to live in towns or cities, which will increase the cost of living in rural areas, and raising children will increase the burden.
In addition, it is the change of ideology. Although many people were born in rural areas, their cognition has changed as they go to school and work. consume energy.
Will maternity benefits work?
Expert: There is no need to sell "population anxiety"
But to reduce the burden of youth birth
According to the data released by the National Bureau of Statistics on January 17 this year, in 2022, there will be 9.56 million births and 10.41 million deaths, and the natural population growth rate will be -0.60‰, which means that China's population has ushered in negative growth.
On August 20, 2021, the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress voted and passed the decision on amending the Population and Family Planning Law. The revised Population and Family Planning Law stipulates that the state advocates marriage and childbearing at the right age, and prenatal and postnatal care. A couple can have three children .
According to Yuan Xin, vice president of the Chinese Population Association and professor of the Institute of Population and Development at the School of Economics of Nankai University, the effect of the policy has not yet been evident, and the effect of childbearing subsidies on increasing young people's willingness to have children remains to be seen.
"For those who have decided whether to have children and how many children to have, I don't think they will change their minds because they can get maternity subsidies for having children, but this kind of maternity subsidies has the meaning and guidance to encourage everyone to have children. In addition, I think, Not only do families with two and three children need to be subsidized, but families with one child also need to have certain maternity subsidies.”
Yang Hua, a professor, researcher, and doctoral supervisor at the School of Sociology of Wuhan University, said in an interview with the Beijing News in 2021 that the education in towns and villages should be done well so that the offspring of farmers do not have to go to the county to study, and save the cost of life and marriage of peasant families. At the same time, the urbanization of rural areas should be accompanied by sufficient employment opportunities.
For example, when farmers move to county towns to buy houses, they can also find jobs in county towns at the same time. This is true urbanization and urbanization that does not increase the burden on farmers' lives.
In China, there are still at least 500 million or 600 million rural populations. If education in townships can be improved and job opportunities in counties can be improved, it is believed that counties will become highlands for births and "reservoirs" for population growth in China.
"Compared to the 'fixed' childbearing willingness of urban youth, youth in rural areas and county towns are still willing to bear children, or even have more children, affected by factors such as family and environment." Lv Dewen believes that, in the final analysis, it is still necessary to establish a To build a fertility-friendly society, reduce the fertility burden of young people, and prevent young people, especially those in rural areas, from quickly disappearing their willingness to bear children.
Yuan Xin said that although my country's population has experienced negative growth, there is no need to excessively sell "population anxiety".
"Population decline is actually an inevitable stage of social development and progress. Many countries will encounter similar problems. What we need to do is to transform from a country with a large population to a country with a strong population. In layman's terms, we can do more things with fewer people. .At the same time, we will build a fertility-friendly society and maintain a reasonable population growth. At this stage, I think there is no need to sell too much 'population anxiety'."
Red Star reporter Fu Yao Wu Yang