A county in one of China’s wealthiest provinces has announced a cash reward for couples if the bride is 25 or younger – a first for China as it scrambles for new and efficient ways to incentivise births against an intensifying demographic crisis.
Changshan county in the western Zhejiang province announced last week that newlyweds will receive 1,000 yuan (US$138) in cash if the bride is aged 25 or younger. In China, the legal marriage age is 22 for men and 20 for women.
The move is in stark contrast with the prevailing sentiment in China since the late 1970s until the one-child policy was abolished in 2016 when the Chinese government promoted late marriage and late births, as well as fewer and better births, as part of its family planning campaign.
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Last year, wedding registrations in China declined to 6.83 million, marking the ninth consecutive annual decline and the lowest level since the late 1970s.
In April, a district in Zhejiang’s Shaoxing city rolled out a list of pronatalist policies, including offering a gift package worth 1,000 yuan to newlyweds, although no age limit was specified.
Local governments across China have been rolling out a slew of measures, including cash awards and parental leave.
Some have also played matchmaker to salvage the country’s plunging rates of births and new marriages.
However, demographers have conceded that any immediate effects are unlikely, and that China should accept and adapt to the new norm of low births.
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Last week’s Qixi Festival, a traditional romantic occasion often referred to as Chinese Valentine’s Day, was marked with many people in the Western city of Xian receiving text messages from the local health commission appealing for couples to “get married and give birth at an appropriate age ... carry on the Chinese heritage and share in the responsibility of national rejuvenation”.
The demographic crisis underlined by the falling number of births and a rapidly ageing population poses one of the most serious challenges for China’s slowing economy, with ripple effects including reduced demand for housing and a weaker consumer market, as well as a shrinking labour pool and challenges to the state pension fund.
Last year, China’s population shrank by 850,000 to to 1.4118 billion, marking the first fall since 1961, pushing public concerns to new heights. Mothers in China had just 9.56 million babies last year, marking a 9.98 per cent drop from 10.62 million in 2021.
The United Nations said in April that India was on the verge of overtaking China as the world’s most populous country.
To encourage young people to get married, demographers have also argued colleges in China should accommodate postgraduate and doctoral students who want to start families by offering financial and policy support.
But as the economy continues to struggle, young people are delaying marriage and taking a more passive approach to life.
Births in China could even drop below 8 million this year, Qiao Jie, dean of the Health Science Centre at Peking University, said earlier this month.
More from South China Morning Post:
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- China population: college graduates offered free accommodation to help tackle ageing society, but feasibility questioned
- China population: society must accept new norm of low births to better respond to demographic crisis, professor says
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