China's New 'Three-Child Policy' Sparks Skepticism Over Costs to Parents

The ruling Chinese Communist Party (CCP) on Monday unveiled new plans to boost flagging birth rates and reverse population aging, raising the official limit on the number of children per couple from two to three. The move came five years after the CCP scrapped a historic policy limiting most couples to just one child, which gave rise to decades of human rights abuses, including forced late-term abortions and sterilizations, as well as widespread monitoring of women's fertility by officials. The new policy was announced as CCP general secretary Xi Jinping chaired a meeting of the Politburo geared towards addressing the aging of the Chinese population.

"China will support couples that wish to have a third child," state news agency Xinhua reported.

The Politburo concluded that "education and guidance should be provided to promote marriage and family values among marriage-age young people," it said, adding that tax and housing incentives would also be in the pipeline for couples wanting to have children. Among the support measures planned by the government include improvements to prenatal and postnatal care, a universal childcare service, and reduced education costs for families. China's fertility rate stood at around 1.3 children per woman in 2020, compared with the 2.1 children per woman needed for the population to replace itself.

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