China taxes condoms, contraceptive drugs in bid to spur birth rate

https://www.thehindu.com/news/international/china-taxes-condoms-contraceptive-drugs-in-bid-to-spur-birth-rate/article70462667.ece

34 Comments

  1. AGuyWhoBrokeBad on

    1) Birth rates naturally increase when people have a comfortable life with time off, affordable housing and the thought that the future looks bright.

    2) Trying to force the population higher is just kicking the can down the road. It will come down at some point. It will be less painful at 1.4 billion than 2 billion or 4 billion. The more it grows, the worse the crash will be.

  2. phil_the_builder on

    What an odd idea. There are probable a million things a governement could do to help its citizens to raise children. Maternity and paternity leave, free daycare, free education, tax breaks, right to a healthy work life balance, monetary support. But no, lets make contraceptives more expensive.
    I would speculate that the one child policy is still so deeply engrained into chinese society that change might take a few generations if it ever happens.

  3. EmergencyAtTheIKEA on

    Condoms are there to prevent STIs too you know. Economists really need to stop fear mongering so much about birth rates. Some world leaders are crazy and might do something drastic.

  4. TheMoorNextDoor on

    They can’t afford to have children as much of the young adults can’t even find employment.

    They aren’t having sex anyway and if they are I think they’ll take the hit on condom tax.

  5. TheAverageJays on

    How come the media never headlines it as “China 30 year old tax exemption on condoms, contraceptive drugs to be inline with other consumer products” and but instead always headlines it as China taxes etc…?

  6. Otherwise-Medium3145 on

    39 more cents for a condom or years of raising a child and all the costs that go with it. They price us out of the ability to raise children then act as if we are just being selfish.

  7. It’s a tax exemption that’s ending. Condoms and birth control will be taxed like regular products. China has one of the most liberal abortion policies in the world, they are not counting on unplanned pregnancies to boost population.

  8. One_Indication_ on

    This is disgusting…refusing to help people to afford children while punishing them for not having them is vile. It won’t end well for anyone. We’ll end up with a lot of abused, neglected children who will turn into angry and unstable adults.

  9. aotus_trivirgatus on

    If governments want to increase birth rates, they should start taxing ***billionaires***, pay down some debts, and fund some social programs.

    I know, that’s crazy talk.

  10. It’s funny how governments will do everything but provide the conditions that enable child rearing.

  11. relevant__comment on

    Friendly reminder. They want purebred Chinese babies. So don’t think you’re about to head out and pick up a Chinese baby mama.

  12. I wouldn’t be surprised if they eventually introduce a Minimum One Child Policy, where everyone must have at least one child.

  13. That only increases STI Transmission. combining financial aid, good childcare, parental leave, and flexible work is more effective at increasing the birth rate.

  14. Unwanted pregnancies makes me pretty pissed.

    It’s not good for the parent. It’s not good for the child. It’s often not good for society to have neglected kids. Everyone loses.

    But then again, US also banned abortion so it’s no better.

  15. I have watched quite alot of videos about what Chinese women look in a man and condoms are least of a factor on China birth rate, however, looking only for men with apartaments in tier 1 cities, do.

  16. Infertility rates are rising globally, so policy changes aren’t going to be enough. The only thing that might help is to encourage couples to start their families in their early twenties, before infertility issues are as likely to show up. But even then there’s an increase in infertility in younger women too-just not to the same degree. The rates across women of reproductive age have increased by over 84% since 1991.

    https://www.news-medical.net/news/20250522/Global-female-infertility-rates-surge-hitting-women-in-their-late-30s-hardest.aspx

  17. Condoms also prevent the spread STI’s. You’d think that maybe the Chinese government would be a little more health conscious after everything that happened with COVID, but obviously they didn’t learn their lesson from that catastrophe.

  18. It seems that the global consensus from our governments is, “how can we get these peasant wage slaves to breed more often, thus ensuring our future workforce of proletariat cogs, while also doing absolutely everything in our power to avoid having to make any of the changes that would actually result in a recovering birth rate?”

    How far are we from forced insemination? Or, if we’re lucky, babies grown in vats that are either assigned to a new workforce of state-sponsored caregivers in a new program to raise the next generation of patriots, or assigned to nuclear family units of preselected parental figures who have been matched from a pool of single individuals based on our hidden social credit ratings and military grade personality profiles to calculate a minimum compatibility life partner.

  19. Why won’t you just make things cheaper that are involved in raising kids instead of encouraging more unprotected sex? Like, just make education, kids medical treatments, vaccines, etc. cheaper lol.