Chinese Province Offers $31,000 Baby Loans to Counter Shrinking Population

China’s birth rate has rapidly slowed over the past few years as fewer and fewer people have children.

(Bloomberg) — A Chinese province with one of the fastest-shrinking populations is rolling out special loans to encourage couples to marry and have babies, as the rapidly-aging country tries to reverse a slump in births.

Jilin province in northeast China will support banks in providing up to 200,000 yuan ($31,400) of “marriage and birth consumer loans” to married couples, according to an official blueprint (link in Chinese) on policies to promote population growth. There were no details on how the government would offer support, but the proposal includes discounted interest rates for the loans that vary according to the number of children a couple has.