Entering China
Zhang Qiang, deputy to the National People’s Congress. Photo courtesy of the interviewee
“At present, China’s population development is facing challenges such as the continuous decline in fertility rate and the intensification of population aging. In order to solve the pain points of people’s livelihood that dare not give birth and cannot afford to raise, we urgently need to build a fertility support policy system covering the whole cycle of ‘birth, raising, nurturing and living’. ”
In 2025, the national “two sessions” will be held soon, Zhang Qiang, a representative of the National People’s Congress and a staff member of the State Grid Taixing Power Supply Company, revealed to Red Star News that he intends to submit a proposal to the conference this year with the theme of “Accelerating the Improvement of the Fertility Support Policy System and Promoting the Construction of a Childbirth-Friendly Society” (hereinafter referred to as the “Proposal”).
The Red Star News reporter noticed that in this “Proposal”, Zhang Qiang gave suggestions on reducing the cost of childbirth, balancing family responsibilities, and optimizing educational resources around the theme of boosting the fertility rate.
How to solve the problem of not daring to have children?
Suggestion: Encourage local differentiation to reward families with many children
As a deputy to the National People’s Congress, Zhang Qiang’s concern about China’s low fertility rate is supported by realistic data. According to the data released by the National Bureau of Statistics in January this year, in 2024, China’s birth population will be 9.54 million, and the birth rate will be 6.77 per thousand; However, the number of deaths was 10.93 million, and the mortality rate was 7.76 per thousand; The natural growth rate of the population is -0.99 per thousand.
How to solve the problem of not daring to give birth? Zhang Qiang believes that first of all, it is necessary to reduce the cost of childbirth. Therefore, in the “Proposal”, he called for expanding the coverage of maternity insurance, promoting the integration of maternity insurance and basic medical insurance, and issuing certain subsidies to women who give birth during the period of receiving unemployment insurance money to reduce the financial burden.
At the same time, he also mentioned that the family burden caused by childbirth should also be reduced in the process of childbirth. He suggested that assisted reproductive technology (such as embryo culture), non-invasive prenatal genetic testing, and labor analgesia should be included in the scope of medical insurance payment, so as to reduce the medical burden on families.
“It is not only necessary to reduce the cost of childbirth, but also to increase the corresponding subsidies for childbirth.” Zhang Qiang mentioned in the “Proposal” that the birth subsidy system should be improved, and on the basis of the implementation of the national unified subsidy, local differentiated rewards for families with many children should be encouraged.
How to balance the family responsibilities behind childbirth?
Suggestion: Pilot “paternity leave” and give subsidies to “mother posts”.
“It is not the mother’s responsibility to raise and accompany the child alone, but also the father’s responsibility and obligation.” Zhang Qiang believes that behind the encouragement of childbearing, there is also a need to balance family responsibilities.
Zhang Qiang called for strict implementation of parental leave, spouse paternity leave and other systems, and some areas can pilot the “paternity leave” system, such as men can apply for up to 6 months of parental leave, so as to promote the sharing of male childcare responsibilities.
In fact, some regions have begun to explore a “new type of holiday” for parents of infants and young children. For example, in the Fujian Provincial Regulations on the Labor Protection of Female Employees passed in 2020, a new content was added that “employers are encouraged to grant 10 days of parental leave to each husband and wife each year when the children are under the age of 3 for couples who meet the requirements of laws and regulations”; Hubei Xianning also issued regulations in 2020, saying that qualified organs, enterprises and institutions can independently explore the implementation of parental leave in line with the actual situation of their units, and both parents of infants and young children can apply for leave, and the leave can be up to 1 year old.
It is worth mentioning that Zhang Qiang also encouraged enterprises to set up maternal and child facilities, provide flexible work systems, and give special subsidies to “mother posts” (such as a subsidy of 20,000 yuan per year for each post) to alleviate gender discrimination in the workplace.
How to solve the problem of “can’t afford to raise”?
Suggestion: Improve the mechanism of “learning with the elderly” in compulsory education
Regarding the housing problem of multi-child families, Zhang Qiang proposed in the “Proposal” that the housing security of multi-child families can be increased, and multi-child families should be given priority to be included in the scope of public rental housing and affordable rental housing, and the amount of provident fund loans should be increased.
Specifically, Zhang Qiang said: “For example, the amount of provident fund loans withdrawn by multi-child families can be differentiated, and the quota for two-child families can be increased by 20% and three-child families by 40%, so as to reduce the problem of multi-child families buying houses.” ”
In addition to the amount of provident fund, Zhang Qiang told Red Star News that various localities can also explore preferential policies for house purchases, such as deed tax reductions and exemptions, preferential down payment ratios and other measures to reduce family housing costs.
In Zhang Qiang’s view, another meaning of “can’t afford to raise” also includes parents’ anxiety about their children’s education. To this end, he also pointed out in the “Proposal” that the supply of educational resources should be optimized, the distribution of educational resources should be dynamically adjusted, the inclusive coverage of preschool education should be expanded, and kindergartens should be supported to open winter and summer vacation care services.
In addition, Zhang Qiang also suggested that the mechanism of compulsory education should be improved, and more regions should introduce regulations on the method of “co-education with many children”, so as to ensure the convenience of children in families with many children to attend school.
