China's child-rearing costs far outstrip U.S. and Japan: research

Only South Korea ranked higher among the 13 countries included in the study

A primary school in Wuhan, China. The average cost of raising a child to the age of 18 in China in 2019 stood at 485,000 yuan ($76,629) for a first child, 6.9 times country's per capita GDP that year. © Reuters

February 23, 2022 14:48 JST

SHANGHAI (Reuters) -- The cost of raising a child in China stands at nearly seven times its per capita GDP, far more than the United States and Japan, highlighting the challenges facing Chinese policymakers as they try to tackle rapidly declining birth rates, new research showed.

Experts warn China's aging population will put huge pressure on its health and social security system, while a dwindling workforce could also severely limit growth for the world's second largest economy in the coming decades.