China’s New 13% VAT on Contraceptives Sparks Public Backlash and Health Worries

China will begin applying a 13% value-added tax (VAT) to contraceptive drugs and products on Jan. 1, ending a tax exemption that had been in place for more than three decades. The move — which affects items such as condoms and other contraceptive goods — is part of the government’s broader policy environment as Beijing seeks to encourage larger families after years of strict population controls.

State-run media have given the change limited play, but it quickly became a hot topic on Chinese social platforms. Some users mocked the policy online, quipping that anyone who thinks raising a child is cheaper than buying taxed condoms must be out of touch. Others voiced deeper concerns about access and public health.

Public-Health and Social Concerns

Health experts warn that even a modest price increase could disproportionately affect poorer and younger people, potentially reducing contraceptive use and increasing unintended pregnancies and sexually transmitted infections (STIs). "Higher prices may reduce access to contraceptives among economically disadvantaged populations, potentially leading to increases in unintended pregnancies and sexually transmitted infections," said Qian Cai, director of the Demographics Research Group at the University of Virginia.

"It is a disciplinary tactic, a management of women's bodies and my sexual desire," said Zou Xuan, a 32-year-old teacher in Pingxiang, Jiangxi province, reflecting broader worries that the policy amounts to renewed interference in intimate choices.

Others argue the tax is a normalization of contraceptives as ordinary consumer goods rather than special, state-subsidized items. "They used to control the population, but now they are encouraging people to have more babies; it is a return to normal methods to make these products ordinary commodities," said Yi Fuxian, a senior scientist at the University of Wisconsin–Madison.

Data and Demographic Context

Contraceptive responsibility in China largely falls on women: a 2022 study cited by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation reported condoms are used by only about 9% of couples, while 44.2% rely on intrauterine devices (IUDs) and 30.5% on female sterilization. Estimates of condom consumption vary; a market report by IndexBox put usage at 5.4 billion units in 2020.

China recorded roughly 9.5 million births in 2024, about one-third fewer than the 14.7 million births reported in 2019, according to the National Bureau of Statistics. With deaths outpacing births, India surpassed China as the world’s most populous country in 2023.

China has historically reported very large numbers of abortions — official figures indicated about 9–10 million annually between 2014 and 2021 — though experts believe undercounting exists and official abortion data stopped being published after 2022. STI counts have risen again after a pandemic-era dip: the National Disease Control and Prevention Administration reported more than 100,000 gonorrhea patients and roughly 670,000 syphilis patients in 2024, while the number of people living with HIV/AIDS reached about 1.4 million that year.

What To Watch

Analysts say the 13% VAT alone is unlikely to change the reproductive plans of couples determined not to have (or to avoid additional) children, given the far higher lifetime costs of raising a child. However, public-health officials caution that even small price barriers can reduce access among vulnerable groups and potentially increase downstream health-care costs.

This policy change highlights tensions between demographic goals and reproductive autonomy, and it has resurfaced public anxiety about state involvement in private family decisions.