From cash handouts to reimbursed procedures, local governments across China are throwing money at in vitro fertilisation and related fertility treatments in a bid to coax couples into having children.
But some experts warn that the hi-tech push ignores the low-tech reality: raising a family is simply too expensive, and fertility subsidies cannot reverse China’s demographic decline.
Jingmen, a city in central Hubei province, is the latest to join the fray, announcing subsidies of up to 10,000 yuan (US$1,419) for IVF and 3,000 yuan for artificial insemination, effective January 1.
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The plan builds on a wave of policies nationwide.
Tianmen, also in Hubei, launched similar grants at designated hospitals last year. And in July, Sichuan province’s Panzhihua began issuing lump-sum subsidies of 5,000 yuan for pregnancies achieved through assisted reproduction.
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The scattershot incentives underscore an urgent nationwide need to reverse a demographic decline that threatens long-term economic and social stability. With China’s infertility rate estimated at 12 to 15 per cent, assisted reproduction is seen as a potential lever, even as years of piecemeal local-level incentives have failed to prevent the population from shrinking.
A Post search found a wide range of costs for IVF services in China, ranging from 30,000 yuan to 150,000 yuan.