The Japanese government has adopted a bill to revise the childrearing assistance law to boost allowances for childrearing and people taking childcare leave.

The revisions approved at a Cabinet meeting on Friday say the limit on household income for receiving childrearing allowances will be scrapped from December this year.

Coverage will be expanded to children up to the age of 18. For the third child onward, the monthly allowances will be raised to 30,000 yen, or about 200 dollars.

The bill would also allow childcare centers to accept children regardless of whether their parents are working or not.

If both parents take childcare leave for 14 days or more, the benefits would be raised so that their disposable income would not change for up to 28 days.

The revisions also aim to expand the coverage of state and local government assistance for children providing care to family members. Such children are known as "young carers."

The bill will finance the expanded measures by creating a framework to collect funds from individuals and businesses through public medical insurance programs. The framework will begin operation in stages from fiscal 2026.

The government aims to pass the bill during the current Diet session. It says the declining birthrate must be addressed by the 2030s, when the younger demographic will start to shrink drastically.