China has become one of the most expensive countries in the world to raise children
A prominent Chinese think tank announced on Wednesday that China has become one of the most expensive countries in the world to have and raise children, according to the results of its study.
Based on the findings of the YuWa Population Research Institute, the cost of raising a child up to the age of 18 is about 63 times the per capita GDP in China, whereas this rate is 208 in Australia, 224 in France, 411 in the United States, and 426 in Japan.
The think tank pointed out that since the current social environment in China is not conducive to women’s fertility, the time costs and opportunity costs for women to have children are very high, as raising children leads to reduced working hours and wage rates for women.
The report from this think tank, which is active in population research, concluded that due to reasons such as the high cost of having children and the difficulty women face in balancing family and work, the average fertility desire among Chinese people is among the lowest in the world.