BEIJING: Joining the chorus of voices encouraging births in China, a city in Shanxi province will reward newlyweds with a cash subsidy of 1,500 yuan ($210), the local civil affairs bureau said over the weekend.
Starting Jan 1, any couple who register their marriage in Lyuliang, Shanxi, are eligible for the reward as long as both parties are getting married for the first time, at least one of them has a household registration — also known as hukou — in the city and the bride is no more than 35 years old.
Couples may collect the money as they register at the civil affairs service counter, local civil affairs workers told news website ThePaper.cn.
The policy, which was announced last week, followed a circular aiming to comprehensively support childbirths and build a fertility friendly society that was rolled out by the nation’s top authorities last week.
The announcement by Lyuliang quickly sparked interest among netizens, as most fertility policies so far have been subsidizing childbirths but not marriages. Guo Li, head of the Lyuliang Health Commission, said that the cash subsidy, among eight other measures, was rolled out in response to the sluggish birthrate in the city.
A city of around 3.4 million people, Lyuliang saw about 22,000 births last year, a rate of about 0.66 percent. Although its rate was slightly higher than the national average of 0.64 percent, the city still recorded a drop in population of some 3,000 people. –The Daily Mail-China Daily news exchange item
