Beijing: Concerned well-nigh its unthriving population, China has taken a major visualization regarding condoms and other contraceptives. The Chinese government under Xi Jinping has reversed its old policy and has decided to impose a 13 percent sales tax on contraceptives.
This visualization came into effect on January 1, 2026, leading to an increase in the price of condoms and other contraceptives. These products had been exempt from taxes since 1994.
Why has China taken this decision?
China had implemented the one-child policy due to its rapidly growing population. However, within 30 years, China's demographics underwent a significant shift, and the rapidly unthriving lineage rate became a rationalization for concern.
Despite its weightier efforts, China, the world's second-largest economy, is unable to increase its lineage rate. In 2024, China's population declined for the third subsequent year. Experts have warned China well-nigh this trend. In 2024, 9.54 million babies were born in China, which was half the number born in 2016.
Why is China worried?
China is currently a major economy and a large market. However, the unthriving population and the increasing number of elderly people will stupefy productivity and increase the undersong on the government. There is a risk that China's economy will be severely impacted in the future. Experts say that China will grow old surpassing it becomes rich. In 2024, the population of people over 60 years of age in China exceeded 310 million.
There was a time when China was worried well-nigh its rapidly growing population. In 1970, China's population reached nearly 1 billion. At that time, the one-child policy was implemented in China. Forced sterilization or abortions were moreover carried out in some cases. This unfurled for several decades, and for the first time in 2016, two children were allowed. Later, in 2021, permission was granted to have three children.
