A newborn baby is seen with the mother at a hospital in Shijiazhuang, North China's Hebei Province, Feb. 10, 2024. (Photo: Xinhua)

China's National Healthcare Security Administration (NHSA) on Friday announced the nationwide rollout of direct maternity allowance payments to eligible individuals, marking another important step towards building a childbirth-friendly society.

Building on earlier progress where 27 provinces -- including the Xinjiang Production and Construction Corps -- and 95 percent of insurance pooling areas had fully implemented direct payments, medical insurance departments in provinces such as Guizhou, Guangxi and Xinjiang have actively responded to the directives from the National Medical Insurance Work Conference by accelerating efforts to optimize the maternity allowance payment process, according to the NHSA.

Maternity allowance refers to the living expenses paid to female employees during their absence from work due to childbirth, as stipulated by Chinese laws and regulations.

Guizhou officially issued a notice on December 16, 2025, confirming that starting January 1, 2026, maternity allowances will be fully paid directly to individuals. Similarly, all insurance pooling areas in Guangxi have issued notices requiring direct payments to begin on January 1, 2026.

Xinjiang, having completed system upgrades earlier, recently announced that direct payment will be fully enforced from February 1, 2026. Beijing issued a directive on December 25, 2025, stipulating that from January 31, 2026, maternity allowances for insured female employees will be paid directly to them. Tianjin has already implemented direct payments for maternity allowances to female employees in enterprises.