CNA – Some Chinese provinces are giving young newlyweds 30 days of paid leave in the hope of encouraging marriage and boosting a flagging birth rate, the publication People’s Daily Health said on Tuesday.
China’s minimum paid marriage leave is three days.
Provinces have been able to set their own more generous allowances since February.
The northwestern province of Gansu and the coal-producing province of Shanxi now give 30 days, while Shanghai gives 10 and Sichuan still only three, according to the People’s Daily Health.
“Extending marriage leave is one of the effective ways of increasing the fertility rate,” dean of the Social Development Research Institute of Southwestern University of Finance and Economics Yang Haiyang, was quoted as saying.
Last year, China recorded its lowest-ever birth rate, of 6.77 births per 1,000 people.
Much of the downturn is the result of a “one child” policy imposed between 1980 and 2015, and a surge in education costs that has put many Chinese off having more than one child, or even having any at all.
