Experts warn of more serious risks, including a possible increase in unplanned pregnancies and sexually transmitted diseases, due to the increase in the cost of contraceptives.
China will begin applying VAT to medicines and contraceptive products from January 1, for the first time in more than three decades, as part of efforts to encourage couples to have more children.
According to the new value added tax (VAT) law, “medicines and contraceptive products” are no longer exempt from tax and become subject to the standard rate of 13%applicable to most consumer goods. Affected products include condoms.
Although the state press did not give much prominence to the measure, the theme went viral on Chinese social mediagenerating criticism and irony.
“Only a fool wouldn’t realize that raising a child costs more than buying condoms, even with tax,” commented a user on the social network Weibo.
Experts warned, however, of more serious risks, including a possible increase in unplanned pregnancies and sexually transmitted diseases, due to the increase in the cost of contraceptives.
One child policy
During the one-child policy, in force between around 1980 and 2015, birth control was implemented with large fines, various penalties and, in some cases, forced abortions. Some children born outside the permitted limit were prevented from obtaining civil registration numbers, becoming, in practice, invisible to the State.
The policy was eased in 2015, allowing two children, and in 2021, the limit was increased to three. For decades, contraception was actively promoted by the Government and often made available free of charge.
“It’s a really cruel measure,” said Hu Lingling, mother of a five-year-old, who said she was determined not to have any more children.
“I’m going to lead the abstinence movement,” he said ironically, quoted by the Associated Press.
“It’s also ridiculous, especially when you compare it to the forced abortions of the family planning era,” he noted.
Number of deaths exceeds the number of births in China
According to the National Bureau of Statistics, 9.5 million babies will be born in China in 2024, around a third less than the 14.7 million recorded in 2019, despite the year of the Dragon – auspicious in the Chinese zodiac – having slightly boosted the birth rate.
With the number of deaths exceeding the number of births, China lost its status as the most populous country in the world to India in 2023.
According to Qian Cai, director of the Demographic Research Group at the University of Virginia, the impact of the measure on the fertility rate will be “very limited”.
“For couples who don’t want children or don’t want more children, a 13% tax on contraceptives is unlikely to influence their reproductive decision, especially when compared to the much higher costs of raising a child,” he said, according to the AP.
Yi Fuxian, a scientist at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, called the move “logical”: “Before they controlled the population, now they want to encourage births; they are just treating contraceptives as common consumer goods.”
As in most countries, the responsibility for contraception in China falls mainly on women.
According to a study released by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation in 2022, only 9% of Chinese couples use condoms, compared to 44.2% who use intrauterine devices (IUDs) and 30.5% who resort to female sterilization. Male sterilization represents 4.7% and the remainder uses pills or other methods.
Given the long tradition of state control over women’s bodies and reproductive decisions, some expressed displeasure with the new measure.
“It’s a form of discipline, management of the female body and my sexual desire,” said Zou Xuan, a 32-year-old teacher in Pingxiang, Jiangxi province.
There is no official data on annual condom consumption in China and estimates vary. According to the international market research platform IndexBox, China consumed 5.4 billion condoms in 2020, the 11th consecutive year of increase.
