China faces falling birth rates and marriages: It offers cash ‘rewards’ to newlyweds if bride is under 25

Concerned about China’s first demographic decline in six decades and the rapid aging of its population, the authorities are urgently testing a series of measures to increase the birth rate including financial incentives and improved childcare services.

The last of these measures aimed at encourage young people to marry This was announced by a county in eastern China, which offers couples a “reward” of 1,000 yuan ($137) if the bride is 25 or younger.

In China, the legal age of marriage is 22 for men and 20 for women, but the number of couples who marry decreased which has reduced birth rates due to official policies that make it difficult for women to single women have children underlines the newspaper The Guardian.

The notice, which was posted on Changshan County’s official WeChat account last week, said the award was intended to promote “age-appropriate marriage and motherhood” of first marriages. It also includes a grant series for childcare, fertility and the education of couples with children.

This measure, notes the Hong Kong newspaper South China Morning Post, strong contrast with the prevailing sentiment in China from the late 1970s until the abolition of the one-child policy in 2016, when the The Chinese government encouraged the late marriage and late births as well as fewer and better births, as part of its family planning campaign.

Last year, marriage registrations in China fell to 6.83 million, marking the ninth consecutive annual decline and the lowest level since the late 1970s. China’s fertility rate, already one of the lowest in the world, is expected to fall to a record low of 1.09 by 2022, the state media.

In 2022, China’s population decreased by 850,000 to 1,411.8 million, which marked the first decline since 1961 , taking public concerns to new heights. Mothers in China had just 9.56 million babies last year, down 9.98% from 10.62 million in 2021.

Yet births in China could even fall below 8 million this year, said Qiao Jie, dean of Peking University’s Health Sciences Center, earlier this month.

The UN said in April that India was on the verge of overtaking China as the most populous country in the world. To encourage young Chinese to marry, demographers also believe that the country’s universities should welcome graduate and doctoral students who wish to start a family, offering them financial and political support.

But as the economy continues to struggle, young people delay marriage and take a more passive approach to life, notes the South China Morning Post. Low consumer confidence and growth concerns about the health of the Chinese economy these are also key factors cited by young Chinese for not wanting to marry and have children, adds The Guardian.

And just like Changshan proposes rewards if the bride is 25 or younger In April, a district in the city of Shaoxing, Zhejiang, issued a list of pro-natalist policies, including offering a gift box worth 1,000 yuan ($137) to newlyweds. no age limit was specified.

The Qixi Festival last week, a traditional romantic occasion often referred to as Chinese Valentine’s Day, was marked by the fact that many residents of the western city of Xian received text messages from the health commission calling on couples to “marry and give birth at an appropriate age (…) to perpetuate Chinese heritage and share the responsibility for national rejuvenation”.