(Yicai) June 2 -- China’s central government is giving childcare subsidies an almost 11 percent annual boost compared with last year, amid increasing concerns about the country’s declining birth and marriage rates.

The CNY99.9 billion (USD14.77 billion) allocated to national childcare subsidies for 2026 will enable local authorities to provide them to eligible infants and young children in 31 provinces, the Ministry of Finance announced today. CNY84.4 billion of that has already been paid to localities.

Applications for this year’s grants opened to the public on Jan. 5.

The subsidies were introduced last year, providing CNY300 (USD44.34) a month for infants and toddlers under three years old. About 90 percent of the funding comes from the central government and the rest from local authorities. 

On this basis, fiscal authorities at all levels are expected to set aside about CNY110 billion for the grants this year, with nearly CNY100 billion coming from the center and CNY10 billion from localities.

The country’s birth rate fell last year to the lowest since records began in 1949, sinking 17 percent from the previous year to 7.92 million. A common complaint among younger generations is that childcare is expensive, a problem exacerbated by the tough labor market in recent years.

On the marriage front, some 1.69 million couples tied the knot in the first quarter of 2026, a 6.2 percent year-on-year decline and the lowest for the period since the early pandemic lockdowns in 2020. After dropping to 6.1 million in 2024, the lowest point since records began in 1986, registrations climbed again last year to 6.76 million.

The larger the population of newborns to three-year-old toddlers in a province, the larger the amount of subsidies it receives. The top three are the same this year as in 2025, with Guangdong receiving CNY8.08 billion, Henan getting CNY7.06 billion, and Sichuan getting CNY6.01 billion.

Editor: Tom Litting