The Chinese government will expand its national healthcare insurance programme in 2026 to fully cover all childbirth related expenses.
The government through this initiative hopes to address the challenges of declining population. China's population at 1.4b is the second largest in the world after India, but the country’s total fertility rate has fallen, and since 2022, its population has entered a period of decline.
Through its new plan, the government is keen to ensure that the basic costs of childbirth are fully covered by insurance programmes nationwide, leaving families with no out-of-pocket expenses for standard delivery services within policy limits.
The national free-childbirth policy will apply only to standard medical services and expenses incurred at premium-priced hospitals, or for drugs and materials not included in the basic insurance catalogue, will not be reimbursed. The National Healthcare Security Administration plans to expand the childbirth insurance coverage to include flexible workers, migrant workers and people in new forms of employment.