For the first time in thirty years, China is slapping a value-added tax on contraceptives, yes, even condoms. It’s part of a bigger push to get birth rates up, since a shrinking population is making folks nervous about the country’s economic future.
China Imposes 13% Tax on Condoms as Birth Rates Plunge
Starting in January, people will have to pay 13% more for things like condoms and other contraceptives, which have been tax-free since 1993. Back then, China was all-in on the one-child policy, ramping up birth control efforts everywhere.
This tax is just one piece of a bigger policy shift. While the government’s making birth control pricier, it’s also tossing out new perks for would-be parents: child-care services (from nurseries to kindergartens), elder-care, disability services, and even marriage-related businesses won’t have to pay VAT.
Basically, the rules now favor families and support systems not population control.
China’s doing a big U-turn after years of limiting births, officials now want people to have more kids. The numbers tell the story: the population’s been shrinking for three years straight, and only 9.54 million babies were born in 2024. That’s just about half as many as in 2016, the year after the one-child rule ended.
China Makes Birth Control Pricier
To tackle this, Beijing’s rolled out a bunch of policies: cash rewards for having kids, better childcare, longer parental leave, and even guidelines to cut down on abortions that aren’t medically necessary.
It’s a far cry from the old days, when the government pushed abortions and forced sterilizations.
But there’s a big problem: raising kids in China is expensive. A recent report from Beijing’s YuWa Population Research Institute says bringing up a child to age 18 costs over 538,000 yuan (about $76,000). With the economy dragging and jobs feeling shaky, a lot of younger people just aren’t interested. Many would rather focus on their own stability and careers than start a family.
China Shifts Strategy to Boost Birth Rate
So, the government’s trying to change how people think about having kids, even if some of these moves don’t make a huge impact right away.
Not everyone’s buying it. He Yafu, a demographer at YuWa, says scrapping the VAT exemption is more about symbolism than real change. The real aim? Shaping a society that supports childbirth and cuts down on abortions.
There’s another angle to this tax, too. While HIV rates have been dropping worldwide, China is dealing with a sharp rise mostly because there’s still a lot of stigma and not enough sex education.
Most new HIV cases come from unprotected sex. Between 2002 and 2021, HIV and AIDS cases jumped from 0.37 to 8.41 per 100,000 people.
The new tax set off a storm on Weibo, China’s big social media site. Some people worry higher prices will mean more unplanned pregnancies and faster spread of sexually transmitted diseases if folks start skipping condoms.
One user put it bluntly: “With rising HIV infections among young people, raising prices like this isn’t exactly smart.” Others just laughed it off, saying the tax won’t convince anyone to have more kids. “If someone can’t afford a condom, how can they afford to raise a child?” one person joked.
