China's contrceptive tax takes effect to boost birth rates

AWANI

A 13% sales tax on contraceptives takes effect in China on Jan 1, as Beijing steps up efforts to boost birth rates exactly 10 years after scrpaping its one-child policy.

Transcript

00:00Over in China, a 13% sales tax on contraceptives takes effect today

00:05as Beijing steps up efforts to boost birth rates.

00:09The move comes as January 1 marks 10 years since China scrapped its one-child policy.

00:17The tax is part of a broader overhaul of the country's value-added tax, or VAT, system

00:22announced late last year, which removes several exemptions in place since 1994.

00:28Child care services, marriage-related services, and elderly care are among those exempted from VAT.

00:34The measures form part of a wider push to encourage young couples to have more children

00:39after decades of strict birth controls that severely skewed China's demographics.

00:45Beijing has already raised the limit on the number of children per couple to three,

00:50while provinces have experimented with IVF subsidies and cash incentives for larger families.

00:55But results have been limited.

00:58Official data showed the population had shrunk for a third straight year,

01:02with just 9.54 million babies born in 2024, about half the number recorded a decade ago.

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