A Chinese national political adviser has recommended lowering the legal age for marriage to 18 to boost fertility chances in the face of a declining population and "unleash reproductive potential", a state-backed newspaper said on Tuesday.
Chen Songxi, a member of the National Committee of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC), told the Global Times that he plans to submit a proposal on completely relaxing restrictions on childbirth in China and establish an "incentive system" for marriage and childbirth.
Chen's comments come ahead of China’s annual parliamentary meeting next week where officials are expected to announce measures to offset the country's declining population.
The legal age for marriage in China is 22 for men and 20 for women, amongst the highest in the world, compared with most developed countries where the legal marriage age is 18.
Chen said China's legal marriage age should be lowered to 18 "to increase the fertility population base and unleash reproductive potential."
It is to be consistent with international norms, Chen said.
China's population fell for a third consecutive year in 2024, as marriages plummeted by a fifth, the biggest drop on record, despite efforts by authorities to encourage young couples to wed and have children.
Much of China's demographic downturn is the result of its one-child policy imposed between 1980 and 2015. Couples have been allowed to have up to three children since 2021.
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.
© Thomson Reuters 2025.
13 Comments
Login to comment
Negative Nancy
Very interesting. I had no idea that it was so late! i would have guessed at the opposite if anything.
Yubaru
Just lowering the marriage age is not going to make a difference if costs associated with children keep increasing.
Having children will become the luxury of the rich, and when that happens, who is going to run the economic machinery of China?
Aly Rustom
exactly.
No one. China is screwed
Chico3
That's not going to work because there are tons of economic and unemployment problems in China. Thousands are getting layed-off or quitting, and as a result, people don't have money to start families. Then, you have to take into an account that many girlfriends/finaces will ask the boyfriend for "dowry" money, and that can be very expensive in itself. If you haven't noticed, because of unemployment there, people are defaulting on their mortgages and even divorcing. Because of this, there's no way lowering the age will work. If China wants to raise the birthrate, give jobs and incentives to their people first before lowering any age for anything.
WA4TKG
There MORE than enough chinese, they just want more tax money and soles to fight their future wars, that’s the idea.
Cephus
Smart move Sir Xi
Desert Tortoise
The size of the working age population in China started to decline ten years ago. Fewer workers to support more elderly is not the recipe for continued economic growth. China is not an attractive destination for immigrants like the US, Canada, Australia and some other western nations so they cannot count on immigrants to maintain their workforce. China's demographic trends will choke their economy and leave them stuck in what is called the Middle Income Trap.
stormcrow
“. . . put off by the high cost of childcare or an unwillingness to marry or put their careers on hold.”
It sounds like the same problem here.
Desert Tortoise
This won't help. Chinese women expect a man to have a home before they will marry them. The expense of owning a home is one of the reasons young Chinese are not marrying or even dating as much. Having children is not inexpensive either so how this Chinese official things lowering the legal age of marriage is somehow going to change the finances of owning a home and having children in big expensive Chinese cities seems kind of uninformed by reality. Why would an 18 year old somehow be better prepared for marriage in China than someone in their late 20s or 30s. My wife has friends from her Shanghai days, women in their late 50s who never married. Successful women too some with homes in China and abroad. But they never married.
OkinawaRider
The legal age for marriage in China is 22 for men and 20 for women,
Didn't know that. 18 will bring it in line with most countries in that case.
owzer
It's a start. Not sure how much difference it will make.
TIAN TERRY
China should not repeat the mistakes of Japan.
Chico3
That might be true and in the past, if the couple divorced, then the wife would get half of the house. As of February this year, that has changed, mostly due to women marrying men to get richer by scamming their men to buy expensive items, including a house, but later on, divorcing and getting half of the house. The current law states that who's ever name is on the house (who paid for the house) is that person's house and no one else's. Many women in China are against this. However, the government did this to prevent spouses from scamming off of their spouses (usually women scamming off of men) for their house, expensive dowries (and even scamming more money just before the wedding).
Yubaru
China, like it or not, is literally following in the path of Japan, times 10.
Fighto!
Highly unlikely lowering the age limit for marriage will address the disaster China is experiencing - and will increasingly experience - with their demographics. Increasing taxes to pay for services needed for old people will certainly not help promote more babies.
Bizarre that they had minimum ages of 22 for men and 20 for women.
Fighto!
There is nothing noble or "knightly" about Chairman Xi the despot.