(Yicai Global) June 1 -- China's new three-child policy requires economic and cultural support to succeed, according to the vice president of the Population Association of China.

The new policy has a quite limited impact on raising the fertility rate as that would take policies based on economic, social, and cultural factors, said Yuan Xin, professor at Nankai University’s School of Economics.

The government yesterday announced that families can have three children after the earlier two-child policy, implemented in 2016, failed to substantially increase new births in the aging society.

China’s total fertility rate was 1.3 last year, according to the findings of the Seventh National Population Census.

Carrot for Kids, Adults, the Elderly

The changes that Yuan proposed touch different age groups. China needs to build public childcare institutions while actively encouraging companies to set up private ones to allocate educational resources fairly and to reduce families' spend on child rearing, said the vice chief of the demographics NGO.

Moreover, the country needs to address the issues of maternity leave and maternity insurance, as well as patently leave, Yuan added. Policy support should touch personal income tax, housing, and education. Women's rights and legitimate interests must be ensured.

The country may also exert its soft power as the current trend of having fewer kids and having them later in life has been shaping over the past 30 to 40 years, said the professor.

The other side of the coin is the issue of aging. It is necessary to build a service system for the elderly that combines housing, communities, institutions, medical care, and recreation, said Yuan. Moreover, the country needs to promote its pension system reform.

China could encourage the elderly to participate in the social economy with human resource management policies as many citizens' retirement is delayed, said Yuan.

After the three-child policy takes effect, China should make sure that all its current laws fit with the new policy, Yuan added.

Editor: Emmi Laine, Xiao Yi