Objective  To examine revenue situation of maternal and child health (MCH) institutions at all administrative levels in China and to provide evidences for governmental decision-making.

  Methods  The data on revenue of 3 094 MCH institutions in 31 provincial level administrative regions across the mainland of China in 2020 were collected through the national monitoring and direct reporting system for MCH institutions; other relevant information were also extracted from China Health Statistical Yearbook of 2020. The revenue and financial subsidy income of the MCH institutions in 2020 were analyzed and compared.

  Results  The entire financial subsidy income of 63.09 billion yuan RMB accounted for 28.7% of the total revenue of MCH institutions in 2020 and the proportion was much lower than that for other public welfare institutions including the centers for disease control and prevention (73.6%) and health supervision institutes (91.5%). There were obvious differences in the median values (million yuan) of the revenue for the MCH institutions in various regions, at different administrative levels, and belong to different financial management categories, with significant higher medians for the MCH institutions in the eastern region (25.81), at provincial level (712.17) and under the combined financial management for public welfare of first- and second-category (70.33) compared to other MCH institutions.

  Conclusion  At present, unreasonable composition, single source, and insufficient financial support are main problems for revenue of MCH institutions in China, suggesting that guarantee mechanism and policy flexibility relevant to revenue of MCH institutions need to be improved urgently.