The report comes after China’s population fell for a second consecutive year in 2023 with the number of new births dropping to around half of that in 2016.
An increasing number of women are opting not to have children due high childcare costs, and an unwillingness to marry or put their careers on hold, while gender discrimination remains rife.
Women generally see a reduction of 2,106 working hours when looking after children aged 0-4 and face an estimated wage loss of 63,000 yuan (US$8,700) in the period, the report said, using an hourly wage gauge of 30 yuan per hour.
Having a child will also lead to a 12-17 per cent drop in women’s wages, the report said. Leisure time will be reduced by 12.6 hours for mothers with one child aged 0-6 and 14 hours for two children.
There is an “urgent need” at the national level to introduce policies to reduce the cost of childbearing as soon as possible, YuWa said, such as cash and tax subsidies, improved childcare services, equal maternity and paternity leave, access to foreign nannies, allowing flexible working and giving single women the same reproductive rights as married women.
The measures together could increase new births to around 3 million, the report said.
In 2023, China’s total fertility rate will only be about 1.0, one of the lowest in the world.
“If the current ultra-low fertility rate cannot be improved, China’s population will rapidly decline and age, which will have a serious negative impact on innovation and overall national strength,” it said.