The new rules came into force on January 1.
Condoms and birth control pills are now subject to a 13% value-added tax, the standard rate for most consumer goods in China.
The move follows Beijing's efforts to boost the birth rate in the world's second-largest economy.
As Reuters pointed out, China's birth rate has been declining for decades as a result of the one-child policy implemented from 1980 to 2015, as well as rapid urbanization.
China's population fell for the third year in a row in 2024, and experts warn the decline will continue.
Now the Chinese authorities want to correct the situation.
Context
The population of China is more than 1.4 billion people. Since 1980, the country has had a one-child policy, wrote the South China Morning Post. It was introduced after the country's population grew to 969 million in 1980 from about 540 million in 1949. Only members of ethnic minorities were allowed to have more than one child; parents who are the only children in their families; rural residents if their first child is a girl.
On January 1, 2016, China officially ended this policy, allowing all married couples to have a second child, Reuters wrote. This is how the country's authorities tried to cope with an aging population and a shrinking workforce.
After China's 2020 census showed the birth rate had fallen to 12 million children, down from 14.65 million in 2019, Beijing allowed each couple to have three children in May 2021. That same year, the country announced guidelines to reduce the number of abortions that are not “medically necessary,” Baijiahao wrote.
In 2023, for the first time in 60 years, the number of births in China was less than the number of deaths.
Bloomberg reported that only 9.54 million children were born in 2024, nearly half the number of 18.8 million born about 10 years ago, when the one-child policy was abolished. Beijing has introduced a range of measures to boost the birth rate, from cash payments to improved child care services and extended maternity and parental leave. As the agency pointed out, China is one of the most expensive countries to raise children.
