China Tries to Boost Births by Taxing Contraceptives
News outlets report that China is trying to raise its birthrate by taxing contraceptives.
For many years, China imposed a one-child policy on its citizens, and the country did not tax contraceptives.
However, China’s population has shrunk three years in a row, and the U.N. projects China will lose 3.2 million people this year — more than the entire population of Arkansas.
To stop the population decline, China has lifted its one-child policy, and last year Beijing announced it would offer parents up to $1,500 per child as an incentive to raise families.
Starting this month, the country will levy a 13% sales tax on contraceptives. Many experts agree that raising the price of contraceptive probably won’t have a meaningful impact on China’s birthrate, but it does underscore how serious China’s situation has become.
Most developed nations are dealing with declining birthrates — including countries like Japan and the U.S. — but not to the same degree as China.
Experts have expressed concern again and again over China’s declining population. In 2020, officials from the Chinese Communist Party said China’s fertility rate had fallen to dangerously low levels. In early 2023, China’s National Bureau of Statistics released data showing the country’s population had begun plummeting.
Without a growing population, it’s difficult for countries to maintain strong communities, a vibrant workforce, or a healthy economy. The Chinese Communist Party spent decades promoting the idea that having fewer children would be good for China, but that simply is not how society works.
Societies thrive off healthy, stable families. That’s part of the reason Family Council has spent more than 36 years promoting, protecting, and strengthening traditional family values in Arkansas. When families succeed, everyone benefits.
Articles appearing on this website are written with the aid of Family Council’s researchers and writers.
