BEIJING - China said on Aug 5 it would introduce free pre-school education from the autumn, as the world’s second most populous nation seeks to boost childbirth in the face of a looming demographic crisis.

China’s population has

declined for three consecutive years

, with United Nations demography models predicting it could fall from around 1.4 billion today to 800 million by 2100.

There were just 9.54 million births in China in 2024, half the number in 2016, when Beijing ended its one-child policy after more than three decades.

The population declined by 1.39 million in 2024, and China lost its crown as the

world’s most populous country to India

in 2023.

Marriage rates are also at record low levels, with many young couples put off having babies by high child-rearing costs and career concerns.

On Aug 5, China’s Cabinet, the State Council, announced: “Starting in the fall semester of 2025, childcare and education fees will be waived for children attending public kindergartens in the year before school”.

The policy aims to “effectively reduce the cost of education, improve the level of public education services, and provide education that satisfies the people”, the State Council said.

Beijing described it as an “important measure that concerns thousands upon thousands of households and relates to long-term development”.

Funding for the new measure would be shared between the central and local authorities, while children attending approved private kindergartens would also be eligible for fee reductions.

The announcement comes a week after the country said it would offer parents the equivalent of US$500 (S$644.44) per year for each child under the age of three.

At a news conference in Beijing last week, National Health Commission (NHC) official Wang Haidong acknowledged that the country had “gradually shifted from a phase of population growth to a phase of population decline”.

“The childcare subsidy system can directly increase people’s cash income,” Mr Guo Yanhong, vice-minister of the NHC, said.

Chinese leaders have in recent years struggled to breathe life into the economy, beset by a years-long property crisis that has spooked would-be homebuyers and dissuaded many people from having children.

China’s shrinking population is also ageing fast, sparking worries about the future of the country’s pension system.

There were nearly 310 million people aged 60 and over in 2024. AFP

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