(Yicai Global) June 30 -- Trip.Com Group said the online Chinese travel agency will invest CNY1 billion (USD138 million) to pay childcare subsidies to staff worldwide, likely benefiting more than 20,000 second-generation employees at its Trip platform.

Staff who have been with the firm for at least three years will get an annual cash bonus of CNY10,000 (USD1,378) for each newborn child from tomorrow, Chief Executive Officer Sun Jie said in an internal company email today. The bonus will be paid annually until the child turns five years old, she added.

Trip.Com has had incentives in place since 2015 to promote childbirth, including maternity benefits, holidays, egg freezing, and assisted reproduction. It has spent nearly CNY8 million (USD1.1 million) on average every year to boost employee fertility before the latest policy.

The number of Trip.Com staff with a first child rose 147 percent from 2015 to 2022, and that of those with a second child surged 329 percent.

Founder and Chairman James Liang has an interest in population issues and has called on the government to give money to families with children, especially those with more than one. Housing subsidies and more nurseries for multi-child families should be provided to encourage childbirth and lower related costs, he said.

In his new book Population Strategy, published this year, Liang estimated that giving monthly subsidies at 2.4 percent of gross domestic product, or CNY1,000 (USD138) per child per month, could increase the number of births by 2.4 million a year.

High childcare costs have a big influence on China’s birthrate. The average price of raising a kid from birth to 18 years old is CNY485,000 (USD66,827), 6.9 times more than the per capita GDP, according to a report by think tank Yuwa Population Research. The figure is nearly double Germany's 3.64 times and more than triple Australia's 2.08 times.

The number of babies born in China last year fell below 10 million for the first time since 1950, dropping 10 percent from 2021 to 9.56 million. The figure stood at 17.6 million in 2017.

Editor: Martin Kadiev