China announced on Sunday the launch of a multi-city campaign to “promote marriage and childbearing at appropriate ages”, after the country recorded its first population decline in more than half a century.
The Family Planning Association, which is under the tutelage of the Chinese central government, has also stipulated among its main tasks “encouraging parents to share the responsibilities of education” and putting an end to “obsolete customs”, such as the high price of marriage dowries, a practice that prevails in rural areas, according to a plan published by the official newspaper Global Times.
The 20 Chinese cities covered by the campaign must “adopt innovative measures to create a favorable environment for motherhood”, said the president of the association, Yao Ying, quoted by the newspaper.
“With economic and social development, the concept of marriage among China’s younger generations has undergone transformations,” said demographer He Yafu, quoted by the newspaper. He added that “society needs to orient young people more in the concept of marriage and procreation and encourage young people to marry and have children.”
Cities such as Chengdu (southwest) or Zhengzhou (centre) have announced that they will accept marriage registrations on the 20th of May, Valentine’s Day in China, despite the fact that the date falls on a Saturday.
In 2022, China lost about 850,000 people in 2022, a count that excludes Macao and Hong Kong special administrative regions and foreign residents, according to official data.
China thus ended last year with 1,411.75 million inhabitants, having registered 9.56 million births and 10.41 million deaths.
At the 20th Congress of the Chinese Communist Party, held in 2022, the ruling party stressed that the country needs a system that “increases birth rates and reduces the costs of pregnancy, childbirth, schooling and parenting.”
Since abandoning its one-child policy in 2016, China has sought to encourage families to have a second or even third child, but with little success.
The higher cost of living, particularly with children’s health and education, and a shift in cultural attitudes towards smaller families are among the reasons cited for the decline in births.
China was overtaken by India last month as the world’s most populous nation, according to UN projections.
