The Chinese government will offer parents subsidies of 3,600 yuan ($500, €429) per child under the age of three per year, Beijing's state media said Monday.

China's population has declined for three consecutive years, the world's second most populous nation — after India — is facing an emerging demographic crisis.

The number of births in 2024 — 9.54 million — was half as many as in 2016, the year that ended its one-child policy that was in place for more than three decades.

Marriage rates in China have also hit a record low. Young couples put off having babies due to the high cost of raising children and career concerns.

Provinces push to raise birth rates

More than 20 provincial-level administrations in China now offer childcare subsidies, according to official data.

In March, Hohhot, the capital of Inner Mongolia in northern China, started giving families money to have more children. Couples with three or more children can get up to 100,000 yuan for each new baby.

In Shenyang, in northeastern Liaoning province, local authorities give families who have a third child 500 yuan per month until the child turns three.

In order to create a "fertility-friendly society", China's southwestern Sichuan province is proposing to increase marriage leave from 5 to 25 days, and more than double the current 60-day maternity leave to 150 days.

A positive step, but limited impact

Analysts said the subsidies are a positive step, but warned they won't be enough on their own to reverse China's population decline or lift its sluggish domestic spending.

Zhiwei Zhang, president and chief economist at Pinpoint Asset Management, told Reuters that the new subsidy showed the government had recognized the "serious challenge" that low fertility poses to the economy.

Zichun Huang, China economist at Capital Economics, said the policy marked a "major milestone" in terms of direct handouts to households and could lay the groundwork for more fiscal transfers in the future.

But he also said the sums were too small to have a "near-term impact on the birth rate or consumption."

"For young couples who just got married and already have a baby, it might actually encourage them to consider having a second child," Wang Xue, a mother to a nine-year-old son from Beijing, told AFP.

But she said the new measures would not be enough to convince her to have a second child.

"Having one child is manageable, but if I had two, I might feel a bit of (financial) pressure," the 36-year-old told AFP.

Edited by: Alex Berry