(Yicai Global) April 18 -- Many Chinese local governments have been rolling out subsidies to encourage families to have more children in order to counter the country’s dwindling birthrate and rapidly aging population. But the focus should be on encouraging more couples to have their first child, experts said.

Ever since China relaxed its family planning policy, local governments have been dishing out grants and allowances to encourage families to have their second and third children. But the younger generation has no strong desire to have any children, Dong Yuzheng, director of the Guangdong Academy of Population Development, told Yicai Global.

So although subsidies have been proven to help boost the birthrate, families should receive the same allowance regardless of the number of children they have, Dong said.

At present, it is those families with three children who receive the most help. Shenyang in northeastern Liaoning province, for instance, is offering families with three children a childcare allowance of CNY500 (USD72) per month until their third child is three years old. Other cities, such as Shenzhen and Harbin in northeastern Heilongjiang province, have introduced similar policies with bigger grants for families with two or three children.

More attention needs to be put on the first-born child, He Dan, director of the China Population and Development Research Center, said at the Two Sessions, the annual meetings of China’s top political and legislative bodies, in March.

The main reason for China’s shrinking birthrate is the postponement of the first child, she said. Fewer couples are willing to have a child. And the longer they put off having their first child, the less likely they are to have a second or third child.

Last year, China’s newborn population fell below 10 million for the first time since 1950 at 9.56 million births. The birth rate dipped 0.075 percentage point to 6.77 per 1,000 women.

Over 55 percent of newborns in 2022 were not the first child in the family, the National Health Commission said recently. Therefore, it is important in the future to encourage more couples to start families.

Editor: Kim Taylor