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Xinlu Liang

The central Chinese province of Hunan is offering women extended maternity leave to encourage couples to have more children to fend off a population crisis.
Under a new provincial policy, mothers who have used up their maternity leave can apply to their employers for more up until the child is a year old.
The employer and the employee will have to negotiate the salary package during the leave period.
Releasing the policy on Tuesday, the provincial government said it was part of efforts to implement the national three-child policy “to promote the long-term balanced development of the population”.
Hunan’s new policy is one of the latest incentives rolled out to encourage women to have more children, with the national population growth rate hitting record lows of just 0.34 per thousand last year.
Mothers in Hunan gave birth to 473,000 children in 2021, the lowest number since 1962, according to Hunan’s 2021 Statistical Yearbook on Economic and Social Development.
In April, the province added 60 days of maternity leave to the mandatory 98 days. Men can take 20 days off for “nursing care leave” after their wives give birth.
The policy also allows couples to take a total of 10 days for a “parenting break” every year until their children turn three. The government also encourages cities and towns to establish a child subsidy system for families with two or more children.


The government said it would try to cut the cost of childbirth, rearing and education. It will also improve public infrastructure, tackle gender discrimination and provide vocational training to protect women’s rights.
According to the once-a-decade national census, Hunan has one of the country’s highest children and old-age dependency ratios – a measure of the burden on working adults.
The province’s child dependency ratio – the population under 18 years of age divided by the working-age population aged 18 to 64 – was 29.72 per cent compared to the national average of 26.24 per cent.
And its old-age dependency ratio – the population aged 65 and older divided by the working-age population aged 18 to 64 – was 22.56 per cent compared with the national average of 19.74 per cent. Overall, this was the fourth-highest total dependency ratio by province or region.
Faced with plunging birth rates, authorities across China have already offered tax cuts, direct payments and homebuyer subsidies to boost the number of births, which fell to 10.62 million last year, a 11.5 per cent drop from 2020.
Overall, China’s population grew by only 480,000 to 1.4126 billion last year, prompting demographers to warn that the country’s population could peak as soon as this year.
More than half of mainland China’s 31 provincial-level jurisdictions reported a population decline last year, while even the provinces with the most births saw the lowest number in decades, according to the provincial birth data.


In recent months, a dozen regional governments have come up with measures to try to avert the demographic crisis.
In May, Jiangsu became the first province to subsidise corporate insurance for women employees during their second and third period of maternity leave.
Other cities around the nation are also loosening home purchase limits for parents with more children, including Dongguan in Guangdong province and Wuxi in Jiangsu province.


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Chinese province offers more maternity leave to help avert population crisis

Authorities throughout China are trying to encourage women to have more children. Photo: Getty Images

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Jiangsu has became the first Chinese province to subsidise companies that pay maternity leave to staff for a second or third child. Photo: EPA-EFE

Jiangsu has became the first Chinese province to subsidise companies that pay maternity leave to staff for a second or third child. Photo: AFP

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There has been confusion in China over when the policy change allowing three children would take effect. Photo: EPA-EFE

News

China


Hunan authorities say women can negotiate with their employers to take up to a year off work after they give birth
Demographers warn the number of people in the country could peak this year



Hunan authorities say women can negotiate with their employers to take up to a year off work after they give birth.


Women and gender

Chinese province offers more maternity leave to help avert population crisis

Hunan authorities say women can negotiate with their employers to take up to a year off work after they give birth Demographers warn the number of people in the country could peak this year

Hunan authorities say women can negotiate with their employers to take up to a year off work after they give birth

Demographers warn the number of people in the country could peak this year