(Yicai) May 20 -- Eastern Jiangxi province has become the latest Chinese provincial-level region to include assisted reproductive services in its medical insurance scheme, after Beijing became the first region to do so in July last year, as part of the nation’s drive to counter a dwindling population.

Nine assisted reproductive services, including egg retrieval and artificial insemination, will be covered in Jiangxi province’s medical insurance program from June, the local healthcare authority said recently.

Jiangxi is the fifth provincial-level region to introduce this measure this year after the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, northwestern Gansu province, Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region and eastern Shandong province. They join Beijing and Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region which already offer this cover. And several other provinces, including central Hunan province as well as eastern Zhejiang and Anhui provinces are preparing to follow suit.

Including fertility treatments in medical insurance will help infertile couples have children by reducing their financial burden as the cost of such treatments is high, said Dong Yuzheng, president of the Guangdong Sociological Association. It also helps build a fertility-friendly society.

The infertility rate in China climbed to 18 percent in 2020 from 12 percent in 2007, showing a consistent upward trend, according to a survey released by The Lancet in 2021.

Faced with a greying population, China scrapped the one-child policy in 2016 and replaced it with a pro-birth policy in 2021, allowing couples to have up to three children. But this has failed to spur the birthrate and the country’s population has shrunk for the past two years. Last year, the population decreased by 2.08 million people year on year and the birth rate contracted to 6.39 per thousand from 6.77 per thousand.

Editors: Dou Shicong, Kim Taylor