China’s Marriage Surge Amid Population Decline: Insights and Policy Responses

(CTN News) – In recent research by the BBC, 768 million new marriages are reported in 2023, which is 12.4% higher than the number of weddings reported in 2022, and the number of newlyweds is expected to spike for the first time in nine years.

According to a recent report from the Ministry of Civil Affairs, the Chinese government has been promoting marriage through campaigns in an effort to improve its record-low birth rate, resulting in 845,000 more marriages than in 2022, according to a recent report on the ministry’s marriage promotion efforts.

In the 1980s, the government implemented the controversial one-child rule, which has led to a decline in the number of births in the country. However, in 2015 and 2021, changes were made to the policy in order to try and boost the number of births to the country.

Moreover, the Chinese Premier, Li Qiang, has pledged to promote a society that fosters births as well as “long-term, balanced population development”.

In addition to this, the state planner has promised to improve policies in order to boost birth rates by reducing the costs of childbirth, parenting, education and improving the parental leave policies in order to increase birth rates.

Despite the record low birth rate in 2023 and deaths as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, China’s population fell for the second consecutive year in 2023.

There is an increase in the number of couples filing for divorce in 2023, with 2.59 million couples registering for uncontested divorces. The Ministry of Civil Affairs has not yet released the number of couples filing for contested divorces.

Taking into account that three hundred million Chinese people are expected to retire over the coming decade, policymakers face challenges as a result of an aging population.

A number of major Asian countries have also been tackling the issue of falling birth rates and aging populations in recent years.

The birth rate in South Korea is the lowest in the world, and Japan saw a record low 800,000 births in 2022. Hong Kong recently announced HK$20,000 donations for every newborn.