Did Covid Curbs Push New Marriages To 37-Year Low In China?

International

oi-Sanjeev Nayak

New marriages dropped last year to their lowest since records began in China, continuing a steady decline over the past decade although the matrimonial total may have been affected by the long-drawn and stringent COVID lockdowns in the country.

Just 6.83 million couples completed their marriage registrations in 2022, down about 8,00,000 or 10.5% from the previous year when 7.63 million marriage registrations were made, according to the data published on the website of the Ministry of Civil Affairs, reported Reuters quoting a local news outlet Yicai.

This is the lowest number since 1986 when available government data begins. The drop in couples tying the knot, which follows pandemic restrictions keeping tens of millions locked in their homes or compounds for months last year, comes as authorities deal with a declining birth rate and a falling population.

In 2022, China’s population fell for the first time in six decades (to 6.77 births per 1,000 people, the lowest on record, from 7.52 in 2021), a decline that was expected to mark the start of a long period of decline in its citizen numbers with profound implications for its economy and the world.

Rising living costs — especially in big, sprawling cities like Beijing, weak economic growth and changing attitudes towards raising a family are said to be the reasons behind it.

Demographers have warned China will get old before it gets rich, as its workforce shrinks and indebted local governments spend more on their elderly population.

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The decline in the number of younger people is partially a result of China’s one-child policy, which lasted from the 1980s to 2016. The rigid one-child policy is touted to be the root of many of the demographic challenges. The limit has since been raised to three children.

To encourage marriage and boost the country’s flagging birth rate, China said last month it would launch pilot projects in more than 20 cities to create a “new-era” marriage and childbearing culture. Some provinces are also giving young newly weds an extension of paid marriage leave.

Concerned over decline in population and rapid aging, the government’s political advisers have also been trying to find ways to boost the nation’s birth rate and have even urged authorities to ramp up the introduction of policies to promote fertility. They have proposed that single and unmarried women should have access to egg freezing and IVF treatment to boost the country’s fertility rate.

A few months back, it was also reported that Chinese sperm banks are appealing to college students and healthy men to donate sperm after the country registered a negative population growth.