(Yicai) Dec. 19 -- China plans to expand maternity insurance coverage next year to include the country’s large number of freelancers without fixed employment in order to address the declining birth rate and ease the pressures of an aging population.

The national medical insurance system will actively adapt to China’s population strategy by promoting maternity insurance and long-term care insurance, according to the National Medical Insurance Work Conference recently held in Beijing. The plan includes covering people working flexible jobs, migrant workers and people engaging in new forms of employment in maternity insurance next year, with the goal of making childbirth essentially free of personal cost nationwide.

Maternity insurance in China mainly covers company employees and is paid by the employers. Employees do not need to pay any fees. Maternity insurance offers two main benefits. One is to reimburse all expenses related to pregnancy and childbirth, including prenatal check-ups, hospital deliveries as well as related surgeries and drugs. The second is a maternity allowance, which provides women with a basic income during maternity leave.

Last year, 253 million people in China participated in maternity insurance, up 1.6 percent from the previous year, according to data from the National Healthcare Security Administration. Around 36.9 million people received maternity benefits, a gain of 30 percent, and maternity insurance fund spending jumped 19 percent to CNY140.3 billion (USD19.9 billion).

In recent years, China’s booming digital economy has led to rapid growth in the number of gig workers, such as food deliverymen, ride-hailing drivers and social media content creators. There were 240 million flexible workers in the country as of the end of last year, accounting for 31 percent of the total employed population, according to data from the National Bureau of Statistics.

To encourage childbirth, some local governments have already expanded maternity insurance coverage. For instance, Shanghai announced in February that freelancers enrolled in the city’s basic health insurance scheme would be covered by maternity insurance.

China’s population has declined for three consecutive years since 2022 and birth rates have hit historic lows. The country recorded 9.54 million births last year, up 520,000 from 2023 and the first increase since 2017. However, the number of newborns was still less than that of deaths, resulting in a net population decline of 1.39 million.

Editors: Dou Shicong, Kim Taylor