China is the second country with the 'highest cost of raising children'

According to the report of the Nepal-based research institute, China is the country with the biggest burden of raising children compared to the average income, after South Korea, where the cost is 7.79 times the national income per capita.

In the report, it was pointed out that the cost of raising a child in China causes 2 times more burden than Germany, where the cost-to-income ratio is 3.64, 3 times more burden than in Australia, where it is 2.08, and France, where it is 2.24. It was calculated that the cost of raising a child until university graduation (22 years old) is 485 thousand yuan (about 70 thousand dollars), and the cost of raising a child is 627 thousand yuan (about 90 thousand dollars).

The report pointed out the gap between raising children between cities and rural areas, emphasizing that the cost in cities exceeded twice.

The cost of raising a child rose from 1 million 26 thousand yuan (about 150 thousand dollars) in Shanghai, the country's largest cities, to 969 thousand yuan (about 140 thousand dollars) in Beijing, and 293 in the Tibet Autonomous Region, where mountainous and remote rural areas are dense. It was reported that it decreased to one thousand yuan (about 42 thousand 390 dollars).

Pointing out the low birth rate in countries where the said costs are high, it was emphasized that in addition to measures to reduce costs such as cash and data assistance, the need to expand kindergartens and nurseries, flexible working conditions and maternity leave, and create supportive conditions such as reproductive health services.

BIRTH RATE DECREASED IN THE COUNTRY

In a nationwide survey conducted by the National Health and Family Planning Commission in China in 2017, 77.4 percent of women of childbearing age described the reason for not wanting to have children or more as a "heavy economic burden".

China's population fell for the first time since 1961 last year. According to the data of the National Bureau of Statistics, the population of mainland China decreased by approximately 850 thousand people in 2022, to 1 billion 411 million 800 thousand.

The country's birth rate fell to 6.77 per thousand, "the lowest level since national records began to be kept".

According to the estimates of the United Nations (UN), it is predicted that India will reach 1.43 billion people this year, surpassing China as "the most populous country in the world".