'Unleash reproductive potential’: China adviser wants youths to marry at 18 to boost birth rate

A Chinese national political adviser has proposed decreasing the legal marriage age to 18 in order to increase childbearing in the face of a shrinking population and “unleash reproductive potential,” according to a state-run publication.

Chen Songxi, a member of the National Committee of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC), told the Global Times that he intends to submit a proposal to entirely eliminate birthing limits in China and create a “incentive system” for marriage and delivery.

Chen’s remarks came ahead of China’s annual legislature gathering next week, during which authorities are expected to propose steps to balance the country’s shrinking population.

China has one of the highest legal marriage ages in the world, at 22 for males and 20 for women, compared to other industrialised nations where the legal marriage age is 18.

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According to Chen, China’s legal marriage age should be reduced to 18 “to increase the fertility population base and unleash reproductive potential.”

Chen stated that it must be compatible with international rules.

China’s population decreased for the third consecutive year in 2024, with marriages down by a fifth, the worst reduction on record, despite government attempts to encourage young couples to marry and have children.

China’s demographic slump is mostly the result of its one-child policy, which was enacted between 1980 and 2015.

Couples have been allowed to have up to three children since 2021.

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Chen said China should remove restrictions on the number of children a family can have to meet the “urgent needs of population development in the new era”.

However a rising number of people are opting to not have children, put off by the high cost of childcare or an unwillingness to marry or put their careers on hold.

Authorities have tried to roll out incentives and measures to boost baby making including expanding maternity leave, financial and tax benefits for having children, as well as housing subsidies.

But China is one of the world’s most expensive places to bring up a child, relative to its GDP per capita, a prominent Chinese think tank said last year, detailing the time and opportunity cost for women who give birth.

CPPCC, a largely ceremonial advisory body, meets in parallel with parliament. It is made up of business magnates, artists, monks, non-communists and other representatives of broader society, but has no legislative power.