China’s leading online travel agency, Trip.com, is implementing a new childcare subsidy program worth 1 billion yuan ($138 million) to encourage its workforce of 32,000 employees to have children.
Under the policy, employees who have been with the company for a minimum of three years will receive an annual bonus of 10,000 yuan ($1,376) for each newborn child from their first birthday until they turn five. The initiative will commence on Saturday.
James Liang, the executive chairman of Trip.com, expressed in a statement that the introduction of this childcare benefit aims to provide financial support that enables employees to start or expand their families while pursuing their professional goals.
This move by Trip.com follows the footsteps of smaller Chinese companies and comes at a time when China is grappling with a demographic crisis.
In 2022, China experienced its first population decline in over six decades, with a birth rate of only 6.77 births per 1,000 people—the lowest since the establishment of Communist China in 1949. As a result, China now ranks as the world’s second most populous nation, trailing behind India according to the United Nations.
China officially ended its long-standing “one-child” policy in 2015, initially permitting married couples to have two children. However, after a brief increase in 2016, the national birth rate has continued to decline.
This issue raises concerns among policymakers due to its potentially profound implications for the country.
Beyond the declining birth rate, China is also witnessing a decrease in the number of marriages, which could compound the demographic challenges.
Data from China’s Ministry of Civil Affairs revealed that around 6.83 million couples got married in 2022, marking a decline of approximately 10.5% compared to the 7.63 million marriages registered in 2021. This figure represents the lowest number recorded since the ministry began publishing such data since 1986.
Nation
