Chinese provinces are now offering newlyweds 30 days of paid marriage leave in an effort to boost the nation’s declining birth rate. Image source: Arunpaypal, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons.
Some Chinese provinces are now offering young newlyweds a generous 30 days of paid marriage leave as part of an initiative to boost the nation’s declining birth rate.
Last year, China’s total population fell for the first time since the early 1960s, when the country experienced devastating famine.
In 2022, the country recorded a birth rate of 6.77 births per 1000 people, its lowest ever.
The standard minimum period for marriage leave in China is three days, but from February, provinces were permitted to set their own allowances.
Gansu and Shanxi now offer 30 days of leave, Shanghai 10 and Sichuan three.
Yang Haiyang, dean of the Social Development Research Institute of South-Western University of Finance and Economics, explained that the leave was primarily focused in rural provinces with the hopes of providing an economic boost.
“Extending marriage leave is one of the effective ways of increasing the fertility rate,” said Yang.
“The extension of marriage leave is mainly in some provinces and cities with relatively slow economic development,” he said.
Other supporting policies such as housing subsidies and paid paternity leave for men are still needed to combat the declining birth rate, said Yang.
In January, China’s state news agency Xinhua released a video reminding the Chinese public that men born after the year 2000 were now of legal age to be married.
China’s minimum age for marriage is 22 for men and 20 for women, but many young adults in China have no plans for marriage.
“Who dares to get married these days? Don’t we need to make money?” one user commented in response to the video, an attitude shared by many.
Many point to China’s infamous “one-child” policy as the reason for the low birth rate, but other factors such as education costs and shifts in cultural attitudes towards marriage and raising children may play a significant role in the changing conditions.
