The cost of raising children in China is among the highest in the world.

A report by the Beijing-based YuWa Population Research Institute said the cost of raising a child until they are 18 compared to per capita GDP in China is about 6.3 times, much higher than 2.08 times in Australia, 2.24 times in France, 4.11 times in the US and 4.26 times in Japan.

Parenting also reduces women's paid work hours and wages, while men's livelihoods remain largely unchanged.

The cost of raising children in China is among the highest in the world, picture 1 — Raising a child to 18 years old in China will cost 6.3 times the country's current GDP per capita - Photo: Global Times

“Given the current social environment in China, the time and opportunity costs for women to have children are too high. For these reasons, as well as women’s difficulty in balancing family and work, the average willingness to have children among Chinese people is almost the lowest in the world ,” said report co-author Liang Jianzhang, founder of online travel site Ctrip and founder of the YuWa Institute.

The YuWa Institute report comes after China's population fell for a second consecutive year in 2023, with the number of new births falling to about half of what it was in 2016. More Chinese women are choosing not to have children due to high childcare costs, not wanting to get married or putting their careers on hold.

Women typically lose 2,106 hours of work when caring for children aged 0-4 and face an estimated lost wage of 63,000 yuan ($8,700) during this period, using an hourly wage metric of 30 yuan per hour, the report said.

Having a child will also reduce women's wages by 12-17%, the report said. Leisure time will be reduced by 12.6 hours for mothers with one child aged 0-6 and 14 hours for mothers with two children.

Therefore, experts from the YuWa Institute believe that the state needs to introduce policies to reduce the cost of having children as soon as possible, such as cash and tax subsidies, improved childcare services, equal maternity and paternity leave, access to foreign nannies, flexible working, and defining single women as having the same reproductive rights as married women.

The report said the measures could increase the number of new births in China by about 3 million a year. By 2023, China's total fertility rate will fall to about 1.0, one of the lowest in the world.

“If the current extremely low birth rate cannot be improved, China's population will decline rapidly and age, which will have a serious negative impact on the country's overall innovation and strength,” the YuWa Institute report stressed.

Quang Anh (according to Reuters)

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