Russia rolls out AI to track street vendors St Petersburg

Russian street vendors are now being targeted by a new AI system. / bne IntelliNewsFacebook

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By bnm Gulf bureau August 4, 2025

Russian authorities in St Petersburg have begun rolling out artificial intelligence (AI) to detect illegal street vendors automatically, a local government press announced on August 4.

The AI-equipped mobile complexes can operatively determine locations where trading rules are violated, with property owners receiving fines of RUB50,000 ($625) when illegal objects are discovered, the press service of the State Automobile Inspectorate of St Petersburg said.

The unlucky first penalty was issued to a landowner in St Petersburg's Vyborgsky district, who received the fine in July.

The inspection proposes using neural networks to monitor compliance with decisions, with vehicles repeating routes four weeks later to assess whether inspection requirements have been met using one of 186 possible pathways.

The city stated the system “ensures violators cannot escape responsibility,” according to the official press release.

It added, “The automated system can identify violations in real-time during regular patrol routes, potentially increasing enforcement efficiency whilst reducing the workload on inspection staff.”

The RUB50,000 ($625) fine serves as a deterrent to illegal construction whilst providing violators with options to either comply with regulations through legalisation or remove unauthorised structures entirely, the city added.

Earlier, St Petersburg's administration announced plans to revise the tax regime for car-sharing, scooter-sharing, and marketplace companies that operate in the city but pay taxes in Moscow, Vice-Governor Alexei Korabelnikov announced on August 4.

Korabelnikov said such companies work and earn money across the country, but taxes flow exclusively to Moscow, which he described as unfair.

To address the situation, the city administration intends to work with the Ministry of Finance to introduce amendments to the Tax Code.

St Petersburg's tightening of the rules could set a precedent for other regional governments seeking to capture tax revenue from technology companies operating within their jurisdictions.

 

Saudi delivery robots reduce time by 50% at Roshn Front

Saudi delivery robots reduce time by 50% at Roshn Front / CC: Roshn

By bnm Gulf bureau August 1, 2025

Self-driving delivery robots operating at Roshn Front in Saudi Arabia in partnership with Jahez are reducing delivery times by 50% and enhancing user experience within the development, Director General of Digital Strategy Yazeed Al-Ghamdi told Al Eqtisadiah on August 1.

Al-Ghamdi said the first trial was launched last year in the Sidra community, where 79 successful deliveries were completed for residents, whilst since the latest activation in the business district of Roshn Front, more than 50 deliveries have been completed within days.

Jahez announced a strategic partnership with Roshn through the ROSHNEXT innovation programme to launch autonomous delivery services using self-driving vehicles within Roshn Front's business district, providing smart access to food services from nearby restaurants.

The Digital Strategy Director noted that this smart service provides a modern solution aligned with the evolving lifestyle within Roshn projects and across Saudi Arabia, reflecting the group's direction to adopt the latest innovations to improve daily experience for residents and visitors.

Al-Ghamdi explained this launch represents the first autonomous food delivery service in Saudi Arabia, achieved through the ROSHNEXT innovation programme by operating five self-driving robots developed by the emerging technologies team in collaboration with Jahez.

The robots operate using advanced technologies with 20 sensors and six cameras to ensure safe and accurate navigation, equipped with GPS technology and cooling systems designed for Saudi Arabia's climate conditions.

Regarding environmental benefits, Al-Ghamdi confirmed that electric robots operate within the green mobility system, contributing to reduced carbon emissions, decreased dependence on traditional vehicles, reduced traffic congestion, and improved air quality within urban projects.

According to estimates, each robot can reduce up to 1.2 tonnes of carbon dioxide emissions annually, supporting Saudi Arabia's environmental goals under Vision 2030.

 

Phu Tho emerges as northern Vietnam’s new high-tech manufacturing hub

/ Adam Śmigielski - Unsplash

By bno - Ho Chi Minh Office August 1, 2025

Phu Tho Province is rapidly establishing itself as a rising high-tech manufacturing hub in northern Vietnam, as global electronics and semiconductor firms increasingly turn to the region as a strategic base for investment, Viet Nam News reports.

The surge in interest comes amid a broader wave of high-tech investment sweeping across northern Vietnam. In particular, the Thang Long Industrial Park—formerly located in Vinh Phuc but now part of Phu Tho following a recent administrative merger—has become a focal point of industrial development.

One notable project is the UTI high-tech factory, which broke ground in May. Covering four hectares, the facility focuses on the production of electronic components and represents an investment of over VND526bn (approximately $20mn). The project is integrated into the global supply chain of the UTI Group, a major South Korean technology manufacturer.

A strategic Vietnamese partner in the initiative is CNCTech Group, one of the country’s leading firms in precision engineering and industrial real estate. CNCTech is spearheading the development of a 500-hectare industrial zone in Phú Thọ, encompassing 15 individual projects with a combined investment approaching VND9 trillion. These ventures have helped attract nearly $400mn in foreign direct investment.

CNCTech’s long-term vision goes beyond industrial land development. The company is seeking to foster a comprehensive high-tech ecosystem encompassing research, application and advanced manufacturing. This marks a departure from traditional industrial park models, aiming instead to create an integrated, sustainable and innovation-led industrial environment.

Among UTI’s major clients are Samsung facilities located in Bac Ninh and Thai Nguyen provinces the Viet Nam News report adds. UTI is a key supplier of high-tech components such as camera lens covers, fingerprint sensors and smartphone screens. Its existing factory in Thai Nguyen's Diem Thuỵ Industrial Park—established in 2016—currently produces 22mn camera lens covers and nearly 8mn speaker membranes each month.

The collaboration between CNCTech and UTI represents more than just a financial partnership. It also reflects a shared strategic ambition to propel Vietnam further into the global high-tech supply chain the Viet Nam News report continues.

According to Trang Bùi, Country Head of Cushman & Wakefield Vietnam, the country continues to attract global manufacturers and logistics companies thanks to its advantageous geography, competitive costs and developed infrastructure. Gateway provinces like Phu Tho are now gaining prominence as preferred destinations for foreign capital.

Data from the first half of 2025, prior to the administrative consolidation of Vinh Phuc, Hoa Binh and Phu Tho into the expanded Phu Tho Province, showed Vinh Phuc approving 18 new foreign-invested projects totalling $78mn. Additionally, capital increases for 28 ongoing projects added a further $272mn, bringing the total to $350mn—equivalent to 103% of last year’s figure for the same period. Domestic investment also saw a substantial rise, reaching VND2,600bn, up 53% year-on-year.

 

US effective tariff rate at 17% after July duties adjustment - Fitch

Switzerland ran a $38.5bn trade surplus with the US last year and has been hit with a 39% tariff - one of the highest in the world. It has two days to strike a deal with the White House before the tariffs come into effect. / bne IntelliNews

By bne IntelliNews August 5, 2025

The United States’ effective tariff rate (ETR) has settled at 17% following the latest reciprocal duty announcements on July 27 and July 31, according to Fitch Ratings.

This is about eight percentage points lower than the April 3 estimate, when higher reciprocal tariffs were first announced, but roughly three points higher than at the end of June.

“The US ETR of 17% reflects a 15% tariff rate on European Union goods, including auto and auto parts, and higher tariffs for major trading partners Brazil, Taiwan, India and Switzerland,” Fitch said. Lower reciprocal tariffs on EU products, down from the 30% threatened earlier in July, mean individual ETRs for EU countries now range from about 3% to over 18%. Fitch noted that the ETR measures total duties as a share of total imports and shifts with changes in import sources and product mix.

The new measures set a reciprocal tariff rate for Canada at 35% on non‑United States‑Mexico‑Canada Agreement (USMCA) compliant goods, leading to an ETR of 10% once 50% tariffs on aluminium, steel and copper are factored in.

“Tariffs on Mexico non‑USMCA compliant goods remain at 25% while the US trade negotiations continue. The ETR reflects our assumption that about half of previous tariff‑free imports will ultimately be reclassified as USMCA compliant,” Fitch said.

And on August 4, Trump just hit Switzerland with a 39% tariff – on the highest tariff rates in the world. The Swiss government immediately called an emergency meeting.  The new tariff rate is due to go into effect on August 7 giving the government a few days to strike a deal with the White House.

Switzerland is being punished as it ran a $38.5bn trade surplus with the US last year – more than Mexico. The US remains its top export market for many of its luxury goods.

Under the August 1 tariff regime, the US has imposed a 15% reciprocal rate on goods from countries with which it runs a trade deficit and maintains a 10% baseline tariff for most other countries. Tariffs on China remain at 34%, giving it the highest ETR among major US trading partners.

Fitch added that “changes to the ETR are possible over the coming days if new trade deals are announced.”

OceanGate's Titan sub implosion was preventable: report

Farah Bahgat with Reuters, AP

After a two-year probe, the US Coast Guard concluded that the submersible's design and safety procedures were inadequate. Investigators also noted a "toxic workplace culture" and "intimidation tactics."

Tickets for the Titan sub had cost $250,000 for an eight-day trip, including dives to the wreck at a depth of 3,800m 12,500ft

Image: OceanGate/ZUMA Wire/IMAGO


The US Coast Guard on Tuesday released a 300-page report after investigating the Titan submersible implosion that killed five people in 2023.

The disappearance of the Titan submersible, which was on an expedition to the ruins of the Titanic, had led to a search that grabbed worldwide attention.

What did the Coast Guard conclude?

The Coast Guard blamed the disaster on the sub owner, OceanGate, a private company based in Washington state whose head was among the five on board.

It said the implosion was "preventable" and cited OceanGate's "failure to follow established engineering protocols for safety, testing, and maintenance" as the "primary causal factor" for the disaster.

The report also criticized the sub's design. The Coast Guard reported that the tour operator's former director of engineering had said the first hull used on the Titan submersible was akin to a "high school project."

According to the report, OceanGate also had a "toxic workplace culture" that dissuaded employees from expressing safety concerns.

Investigators alleged that OceanGate had for years "leveraged intimidation tactics... and the company's favorable reputation to evade regulatory scrutiny."

"By strategically creating and exploiting regulatory confusion and oversight challenges, OceanGate was ultimately able to operate TITAN completely outside of the established deep-sea protocols," the report found.

Denmark zoo asks people to donate pets to feed predators

Farah Bahgat with AP, dpa, DW

The Aalborg Zoo said it was seeking to replicate natural food chains. It called for donations of healthy pets including guinea pigs, rabbits, chickens and horses.

Lions are among a group of carnivores housed by Aalborg Zoo

Image: Ralf Hoppe/imageBROKER/picture alliance

A zoo in the northern Danish city of Aalborg is accepting donations in the form of pets to feed its predators.

The zoo issued an online call for people who "have a healthy animal that needs to be given away for various reasons."
Why is Aalborg Zoo asking for pets?

The zoo said it was trying to mimic the natural food chain of animals it housed.

It listed guinea pigs, rabbits, chickens and horses as possible donations, noting that owners of donated horses can receive a tax deduction.

In a social media post, the zoo said that with such donations, "nothing goes to waste — and we ensure natural behavior, nutrition and well-being of our predators."

Donated animals will be "gently euthanized" by trained staff, the zoo added.
Is it common to donate pets to the zoo?

The call for donations attracted international media attention. But Pia Nielsen, deputy director of Aalborg Zoo, said the initiative was common practice in Denmark.

"For many years at Aalborg Zoo, we have fed our carnivores with smaller livestock," she said in a statement quoted by The Guardian.

"In Denmark, this practice is common, and many of our guests and partners appreciate the opportunity to contribute."

In 2014, Copenhagen Zoo came under international scrutiny for euthanizing a healthy giraffe to avoid inbreeding.

Aalborg Zoo opened in 1935. It houses predators including the European lynx, Asiatic lion, Sumatran tiger and African wild dog, according to its website.

Edited by: Louis Oelofse

AFRICA IS A COUNTRY

New Benin law offers citizenship to descendants of African slaves

Issued on: 30/07/2025 - 

American R&B singer Ciara has become a Beninese citizen thanks to a new law granting citizenship to descendants of African slaves. The Grammy-winning star appeared alongside President Patrice Talon during a ceremony held this weekend in Cotonou, the capital. Ciara is among the first descendants to receive the coveted “green passport” as part of a programme recognising Benin’s historic role in the transatlantic slave trade and aiming to boost tourism. Leonard Wantchekon, professor of Politics and International affairs at Princeton University was FRANCE 24's guest to talk about it.

Kenya: Justice sought for victims of protest crackdowns


Issued on: 30/07/2025 - 

In Kenya, trials against police officers accused of killing protesters are multiplying. A court in Nairobi is hearing the case of Rex Masai, a young man who was shot dead while protesting last year’s draft finance bill. He was the first in a long list — over the past year, more than 100 protesters have been killed and many others injured.

Tunisia’s “barbechas”: the invisible workforce behind recycling


Issued on: 30/07/2025 - 12:46

They’re called barbechas — men and women who walk for hours each day with bags on their backs, searching for recyclable waste. Their labour is essential to Tunisia’s recycling system, yet most are underpaid and overlooked, especially the women who make up a large part of this informal sector. Growing in number, these workers are a stark reflection of the country’s economic and migration crises.

India secures return of ancient Buddhist gems

New Delhi (AFP) – India has recovered a set of relics linked to early Buddhism more than a century after they were removed from the country during the British colonial period, officials said Wednesday.


Issued on: 30/07/2025 -

India has recovered a set of relics linked to early Buddhism more than a century after they were removed from the country during the British colonial period © - / Indian Press Information Bureau (PIB)/AFP

The Piprahwa gems date back to around the third century BC and were unearthed in 1898 by Englishman William Claxton Peppe in northern India.

India's culture ministry said it secured the return of the gems, which had been slated for auction in Hong Kong in May, in partnership with Mumbai-based conglomerate Godrej Industries Group.

"These relics have long held immense spiritual value for the global Buddhist community and represent one of the most important archaeological discoveries in India's history," the ministry said in a statement.

The gems will be put on public display soon, it added, without giving further details.


Prime Minister Narendra Modi hailed the recovery as a "joyous" occasion for India's cultural heritage.

"It may be recalled that the Piprahwa relics were discovered in 1898 but were taken away from India during the colonial period," he said in a post on social media.

"When they appeared in an international auction earlier this year, we worked to ensure they returned home," he added.

"I appreciate all those who have been involved in this effort."

In May, the culture ministry issued a legal notice to Sotheby's, the auction house that had organised the sale of the gems, demanding it be cancelled and the relics returned to India.

The ministry also called for an apology and full disclosure of provenance documents.

Sotheby's postponed the auction in response.

The auction house said in a statement Wednesday that it was "delighted to have facilitated the return of the Piprahwa Gems to India".

"Sotheby's is thrilled to have played such a central role in securing this historic outcome," it added.

The gems were excavated at the Piprahwa village near the Buddha's birthplace and have been attributed to a clan linked to the religious figure.

"This is one of the most significant instances of repatriation of our lost heritage," culture minister Gajendra Singh Shekhawat said.

© 2025 AFP

Gutenberg.orgwww.gutenberg.org/files/155/155-h/155-h.htm

The Project Gutenberg eBook of The Moonstone, by Wilkie Collins

THE MOONSTONE. A Romance. by Wilkie Collins. Contents. PROLOGUE. THE STORY. FIRST ... THE MOONSTONE. A similar superstition was once prevalent, as I have ...

Radicalism, feminism and family puzzles: why Wilkie Collins is so much more than a mystery writer

THE CONVERSATION
Published: January 3, 2023

Wilkie Collins had the longest writing career of any major mid-19th-century English novelist, writing short stories and novels from 1844 to 1889. Literary criticism, however, has traditionally seen him as only notable for his two mystery novels, The Woman in White (1860) and The Moonstone (1868).

While these are some of the century’s earliest, and best mysteries, praising only them ignores the social and political themes common in Collins’s work, especially his later novels.

The favouring of the mysteries even started with Charles Dickens, who employed Collins at his magazine Household Words. Dickens often published Collins there and in its successor All The Year Round. Though he did enjoy going out at night, in London or Paris, with the somewhat dashing Collins, Dickens only copied his literary approach once, in The Mystery of Edwin Drood, unfinished at his death.

Collins was born in 1824; his father was an established painter, of the old landscape-oriented, careful style, an approach Joseph Turner was to overturn. Collins could himself paint quite well, but his busy mother was more of an influence on him. A very keen reader, she seems to have inspired him as a writer and he was close to her throughout her life.

Collins’ first two novels were unlike the rest of his work. He began with themes that were overseas and historical, following Walter Scott and Edward Bulwer-Lytton, but his topics were distinctly lively

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An 1850 portrait of Collins. Wikimedia Commons

Ioláni, written in 1844-5, was about love and tragedy in the Pacific, but it remained unpublished until 1999. Antonina (1850) depicted the Gothic attack on Rome in 408 BCE, with a woman among their leaders.

But then Collins shook off the weight of the past, starting on the main theme of his life’s work, modern troubled families. In Hide and Seek (1851), Mat Marksman, who has returned from America, having been scalped by native Americans, detects his strange family past.

A very different novel, but another with a modern-day colloquial title and again dealing with complex family matters, was The Dead Secret (1857): this time a woman traces her own baffling origins and their impact on the present.


Family puzzles and intrusive criminality flourish in The Woman in White (1860), a highly popular and admired novel. An unemployed art-teacher meets a white-clad beauty late at night in London: she has escaped from an asylum, and says she comes from Cumberland. Then he is found a job at a country house: Laura Fairlie, who looks very like the girl in the street lives there. Mysteries, crimes, and acts of unselfish courage follow: finally the intrusive evil forces – Sir Percival Glyde and Count Fosco – are defeated and the art-teacher and the beauty can be happy together.

Read more: Cities of the dead: the Victorian obsession with graveyards

Now enjoying a large reputation, Collins produced some more excellent big, thoughtful novels after this one, which seem almost forgotten as they are not mysteries. No Name (1862) is about a woman who struggles bravely and cleverly after her parents die.

Then there is the even more elaborate Armadale (1866). This offers two men both named Alan Armadale and a major female villain, Lydia Gwilt, who interact melodramatically. Throughout, Collins debates – as a serious novelist – the interface of Chance and Fate.

A portrait of Collins circa 1859-70. Wikimedia Commons

After that Collins produced The Moonstone (1868). It offers a mystery: what happened to the great diamond on the heroine’s birthday night? But it provides much more than an unguessable solution – that should not be revealed here. In addition to that, the police detective fails, an amateur does much better, there is a bossy over-religious woman, a radical young girl servant and overall praise for three heroic Indians. Collins, dissents from conservative English hostility towards Indians at that time, stemming from the 1857 native resistance to colonialism they called the “Indian Mutiny”.
Christian socialism, vivisection, nationalism

In the 1870s Collins, taking a lot of laudanum for what the doctors called gout, wrote fine short stories, often about troubled but finally successful romances, perhaps reflecting his own two affairs – for some years conducted at the same time.

In this later period he produced a range of usually short but often very interesting novels. They are ignored by most commentators, no doubt at least in part because they are often challengingly socially aware. In The Law and the Lady (1875), a wife determinedly investigates and saves her husband from the charge of murdering his previous wife.


There is early feminism here: Dorothy Sayers, in her introduction to The Moonstone, said Collins creates women who are `“strong, resolute, and intellectual”. Radicalism can also be a central element. The Fallen Leaves (1879) has the young British hero lecturing on the Christian Socialism he learnt abroad in an American radical community.

Then Heart and Science (1883) attacks modern vivisectionists: central to the story is a scientist who has been killing dogs in his research.

In this last period, Collins ranges widely: Jezebel’s Daughter (1879) is set in the complexities of the German business world, and his very last book, Blind Love (1890), completed by Walter Besant after Collins died in September 1889, has a central figure seriously involved with the Irish independence conflict of the time.

Read more: Five novels from the Victorian era to give comfort in troubled times
Strong, intriguing women

Remarkably, Collins always had a whole novel planned out in notes before he started writing – Blind Love was not hard for another writer to finish. That potent planning and attention to detail guides his highly intricate plots, whether he is writing mysteries or not, and the richness of his fiction is recurrently focused on the social, political and gender strains that he saw in the world around him. He represented these themes with a detail and power rarely recognised.

Unlike Dickens, Collins created strong, intriguing women like the brave, clever Marian Halcombe in The Woman in White or the boldly, even rashly, self-assertive Magdalen Vanstone in No Name. His novels, after those very first two, always deal with issues and problems of the present day in a very identifiable England.

There is much more to read, and to think about, in Collins’s work than has traditionally been noticed. In recent years his reputation has been rising: American critics have seen his richness and strength more than most.

But there is still a way to go to recognise him as a full member of that remarkable group of mid-19th century major British writers, along with Benjamin Disraeli, Elizabeth Gaskell, Charles Dickens, Mary Elizabeth Braddon and George Eliot.

Stephen Knight is the author of The Complete Fiction of Wilkie Collins (Routledge 2022)

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Author

Stephen Knight
Honorary Research Professor, The University of Melbourne

NOT SO HIP CAPITALI$M

Gen Z shift, high costs force UK nightclubs to reinvent

London (AFP) – Is the party over? UK nightclubs are famed around the world, but Covid and inflation have hit the sector hard, forcing businesses to reinvent themselves to attract new generations to the dance floor.


Issued on: 05/08/2025 -

A man walks past the boarded up entrance to the closed-down PRYZM club in Kingston, west London © JUSTIN TALLIS / AFP

Pryzm Kingston is a well-known club in southwest London popular with students, where artists like Billie Eilish, Rod Stewart, and Stormzy have performed.

But the converted cinema closed its doors for renovation last month, with its owners saying it was time to "look to the future and reimagine this venue for the next generation of partygoers."

It will be transformed into a smaller club and a dance bar -- "creating venues that reflect what people are looking for now," they added.

Many other British clubs are also trying to re-adjust after around a third of them, about 400 venues, have shut down since 2020, according to the Night Time Industries Association (NTIA).

"Whilst nightclubs were in gentle decline prior to Covid, the pandemic profoundly accelerated things," Tony Rigg, a music industry consultant, told AFP, noting that the cost-of-living crisis had sent bills and rents soaring.

As the first pints of the evening were poured in central London, 26-year-old account manager Conor Nugent told AFP he only goes clubbing for "special occasions," after asking himself "if it's really worth it."

Like 68 percent of 18-to-30-year-olds, the Londoner has cut back on nights out for financial reasons and prefers to save up for concerts and events.

Rigg pointed out that Covid-19 caused a "cultural shift" among Gen Z — those born between 1997 and 2012 — who generally drink less alcohol and largely miss out on the "rite of passage of going out, experiencing clubs and learning some social behaviours."
Lure of Paris, Berlin

Rekom UK, the company behind iconic clubs like Pryzm and Atik, filed for bankruptcy in 2024, shutting down 17 venues across the country, citing multiple pressures.

A sign advertises the final night at the closed-down PRYZM Kingston club in Kingston, west of London, on July 31, 2025 © JUSTIN TALLIS / AFP


About 20 others, including Kingston, were acquired by Neos Hospitality, which decided to convert some into dance bars or host alcohol-free events.

"The sector has to evolve otherwise it will become obsolete," Rigg acknowledged.

To stop hemorrhaging party-seekers lured by Berlin or Paris, London Mayor Sadiq Khan launched an independent working group called the "Nightlife Taskforce," which is set to publish a report later this year.

"One of the reasons why people love London is our nightlife, our culture," Khan told AFP.

"When I speak to mayors in Paris, in New York and Tokyo, I'm jealous of the powers they have" especially on licensing issues, he said, adding he was looking at other cities like Paris "with envy" as it enjoys a nighttime boom.

He was granted approval in March to overrule certain local authorities who had forced pubs, restaurants, concert halls, and nightclubs to close early.

UK nightclubs are trying to reinvent themselves after some 400 venues have closed their doors since 2020 © OLI SCARFF / AFP/File

The government has also announced plans to change regulations to support nightlife venues in certain areas.

"Sadly, in the UK, we struggle with reputational issues and a narrative that makes (clubbing) more of a counterculture element rather than a real economic and cultural driver," NTIA head Michael Kill, who advocates for greater recognition of electronic music and club culture, told AFP.

The night-time sector contributes a vital £153 billion ($203 billion) a year to the UK economy, employing around two million people, according to NTIA.

And with London still enjoying a long, well-established reputation, all is not lost.

The capital remains an "exciting" city, 25-year-old Carys Bromley who recently moved to London from the island of Guernsey, told AFP.

"There's a lot of parties, clubs, and a big nightlife. The places stay open longer, it's busier, a bit more wild," she said.

© 2025 AFP

BEATING THE G7

China to offer free pre-school education from autumn

Beijing (AFP) – China said on Tuesday it would introduce free pre-school education from the autumn, as the world's second most populous nation seeks to boost childbirth in the face of a looming demographic crisis.


Issued on: 05/08/2025 - 

China's population has declined for three consecutive years, with UN models predicting it could fall from around 1.4 billion today to 800 million by 2100 © STR / AFP/File

China's population has declined for three consecutive years, with United Nations demography models predicting it could fall from around 1.4 billion today to 800 million by 2100.

There were just 9.54 million births in China last year, half the number in 2016, when Beijing ended its one-child policy after more than three decades.

The population declined by 1.39 million last year, and China lost its crown as the world's most populous country to India in 2023.

Marriage rates are also at record low levels, with many young couples put off having babies by high child-rearing costs and career concerns.


On Tuesday China's cabinet, the State Council, announced that: "starting in the fall semester of 2025, childcare and education fees will be waived for children attending public kindergartens in the year before school".

The policy aims to "effectively reduce the cost of education, improve the level of public education services, and provide education that satisfies the people", the State Council said.

Beijing described it as an "important measure that concerns thousands upon thousands of households and relates to long-term development".

Funding for the new measure would be shared between central and local authorities, while children attending approved private kindergartens would also be eligible for fee reductions.

The announcement comes a week after the country said it would offer parents the equivalent of $500 per year for each child under the age of three.

At a news conference in Beijing last week, National Health Commission (NHC) official Wang Haidong acknowledged that the country had "gradually shifted from a phase of population growth to a phase of population decline".

"The childcare subsidy system can directly increase people's cash income," Guo Yanhong, vice minister of the NHC, said.

Chinese leaders have in recent years struggled to breathe life into the economy, beset by a years-long property crisis that has spooked would-be homebuyers and dissuaded many people from having children.

China's shrinking population is also ageing fast, sparking worries about the future of the country's pension system.

There were nearly 310 million people aged 60 and over in 2024.

© 2025 AFP

China says childcare subsidies to 'add new impetus' to economy

Beijing (AFP) – China said Wednesday that recently announced subsidies to support families with young children will provide a much-needed economic boost, as Beijing seeks to promote spending and avert a demographic crisis.


Issued on: 30/07/2025 - 

China's population declined by 1.39 million last year © Hector RETAMAL / AFP/File

Authorities in the world's second-largest economy on Monday declared the new nationwide policy, which offers parents the equivalent of around $500 per child under the age of three per year.

"The childcare subsidy system can directly increase people's cash income," Guo Yanhong, vice minister of China's National Health Commission (NHC), said at a press conference in Beijing on Wednesday.

The measure "will better protect and improve people's livelihoods", Guo said.

"At the same time, it will help promote a virtuous cycle of improving people's livelihoods and economic development, adding new impetus to the sustained and healthy development of the economy," she added.

Chinese leaders have in recent years struggled to breathe life into the economy, beset by a yearslong property crisis that has spooked would-be homebuyers and dissuaded many people from having children.

Beijing has since late last year introduced a series of aggressive pro-consumption policy measures -- including key rate cuts and cancellations of certain restrictions on homebuying -- but results have been limited.

The slump comes as worrying demographic trends have become more pronounced.

China's population declined by 1.39 million last year, and marriage rates now sit at record lows.

At Wednesday's press conference in Beijing, NHC official Wang Haidong acknowledged that the country has "gradually shifted from a phase of population growth to a phase of population decline".

"To adapt to this new demographic landscape, the country is accelerating the improvement of its fertility support policy system, continuously reducing burdens on families of childbirth, raising children and educating them," said Wang.

This, added Wang, would help in "promoting the construction of a fertility-friendly society".

Zichun Huang, China economist at Capital Economics, told AFP this week that the sum of $500 per child was too small to have a "near-term impact on the birth rate or consumption", but the policy could lay the groundwork for further child subsidies in the future.

A finance ministry official said 90 billion yuan ($12.5 billion) had been set aside as a preliminary budget for the new scheme this year.

Also on Wednesday, China's top leaders gathered for a meeting on the economy chaired by President Xi Jinping, state media reported.

In a speech, Xi noted "numerous risks and challenges" facing the economy, calling for the government to "strengthen macroeconomic policies and intensify them at the appropriate time", state news agency Xinhua reported.

© 2025 AFP