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China economy
OpinionComment
Paul Yip
Bai Yiming
Paul YipandBai Yiming

Opinion | Legalising births outside marriage won’t boost China’s dwindling population

  • A rule change in one Chinese province to allow unmarried women to have children gives them greater choice in principle, but not in practice
  • It does nothing to address the more fundamental economic and social factors preventing people from having children

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A parent pushes a child in a pram in Beijing on July 21, 2021. Photo: Getty Images
Paul YipandBai Yiming
Last year marked the first time in 60 years that China’s population declined, falling to 1,411.8 billion from 1,412.6 billion in 2021.
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The nation’s birth rate also hit an all-time low: in 2022, 9.56 million babies were born, a decrease of 9.98 per cent from 10.62 million in 2021. This equated to a birth rate of just 6.77 births per 1,000 people, compared to 7.52 in 2021.

With the deepening demographic crisis expected to have far-reaching effects on economic growth, authorities are scrambling for solutions.

While previously, only married women could legally have children in China, officials in Sichuan province have modified this regulation. On February 15, Sichuan province will begin allowing both married and unmarried individuals to register the birth of their children. The Sichuan Provincial Health Commission stated that the action was intended to “maintain long-term and balanced population development”.

Yet the hesitation among women to have children is arguably not due to legal limitations. Instead, it is part of a far broader trend: in modern China and other high-income Asian societies, young people are becoming less likely to get married and start a family. Last year, there were 11.6 million first marriages in China, which is almost 700,000 less than the year before and a long way below 2013’s peak of 23.9 million.
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Legalising the birth of children outside marriage is not likely to make women want to have more children. While the registration of children already born to unmarried parents may initially boost official numbers, the effect will be short-lived and won’t have a significant impact on the number of births.

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