Bhutan offers cash for third children as births fall

Bhutan is offering monthly cash payments to families with third or subsequent children as the Himalayan kingdom tries to respond to falling births and the emigration of young people.

The government's “Third Child Plus” programme, launched in June, provides $105 a month for each third or later child until the child turns three.

Annual births have fallen by more than a quarter over the past decade. Births of third or later children have dropped 27 percent since 2020, according to the programme report.

Prime Minister Tshering Tobgay has repeatedly warned about the population decline, calling it an “existential” crisis, according to the state broadcaster Bhutan Broadcasting Service. In the programme introduction, he wrote that Bhutan's fertility had fallen to near or below replacement level.

UN estimates cited in the material put Bhutan's fertility rate at about 1.8 children per woman and project that the share of people aged 65 and over will rise from about six percent to 17 percent by 2050.

The government says falling births and continued migration could leave too few working-age people to support the economy and an ageing population. More than 71,000 Bhutanese were abroad as of May 2026, including 39,000 in Australia, according to the programme report.

Some residents welcomed the payments but questioned whether they would be enough. Khandu Wangmo, a civil servant, said the policy could encourage larger families but that costs for housing, childcare and raising children remained high.