A total of 25 Chinese provinces will be distributing maternity leave payments directly to mothers by next month, as part of a broader effort to reverse the country’s flagging birth rate , officials said on Monday.

Why It Matters

Roughly two-thirds of the global population now lives in countries where the fertility rate has fallen below the replacement level of 2.1 births per woman, according to the French Institute for Demographic Studies.

China ’s fertility rate—at just 1.0—is among the lowest in the world, raising alarm over the long-term effects on the world’s second-largest economy. Workplace discrimination and other employer difficulties are frequently cited by Chinese women as reasons for delaying or forgoing childbirth.

Newsweek reached out to the Chinese Foreign Ministry

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