A county in eastern China is offering couples a “reward” of 1,000 yuan ($137) if the bride is aged 25 or younger, the latest in a series of measures to incentivise young people to get married amid rising concern over a declining national birthrate. The notice, which was published on Changshan county’s official WeChat account last week, said the reward was to promote “age-appropriate marriage and childbearing” for first marriages. It also included a series of childcare, fertility and education subsidies for couples who have children. Concerned about China’s first…
Tag: Population
China’s fertility rate dropped to record low in 2022, estimates show
China’s fertility rate dropped to an estimated record low of 1.09 in 2022, the lowest of any country with a population over 100 million, according to government data. Demographers from the China Population and Development Research Centre, a Chinese government research institution, released data indicating that last year’s fertility rate fell to 1.09 from 1.15 in 2021, below Japan’s rate for the same time period and only slightly higher than South Korea’s, which was estimated to be 0.8. Separately, Hong Kong’s Family Planning Association has said the number of couples…
China’s Economic Rebound Hits a Wall
Daisuke Wakabayashi contributed reporting. The Daily is made by Rachel Quester, Lynsea Garrison, Clare Toeniskoetter, Paige Cowett, Michael Simon Johnson, Brad Fisher, Chris Wood, Jessica Cheung, Stella Tan, Alexandra Leigh Young, Lisa Chow, Eric Krupke, Marc Georges, Luke Vander Ploeg, M.J. Davis Lin, Dan Powell, Dave Shaw, Sydney Harper, Robert Jimison, Mike Benoist, Liz O. Baylen, Asthaa Chaturvedi, Rachelle Bonja, Diana Nguyen, Marion Lozano, Corey Schreppel, Anita Badejo, Rob Szypko, Elisheba Ittoop, Mooj Zadie, Patricia Willens, Rowan Niemisto, Jody Becker, Rikki Novetsky, John Ketchum, Nina Feldman, Will Reid, Carlos Prieto,…
Why China’s Young People Are Not Getting Married
It has been a brutal three years for China’s young adults. Their unemployment rate is soaring amid a wave of corporate layoffs. Draconian coronavirus restrictions are over, but not the sense of uncertainty about the future they created. For many people, the recent turmoil is another reason to postpone major life decisions — contributing to a record-low marriage rate and complicating the government’s efforts to stave off a demographic crisis. Grace Zhang, a tech worker who had long been ambivalent about marriage, spent two months barricaded in the government lockdown…
Australia news live: councils to get $100m energy efficiency fund; tributes flow for James Hardy
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Marriages in China drop to record low despite government push
The number of marriages in China last year dropped to 6.83 million, the lowest since records began in 1986. Data released by the Ministry of Civil Affairs showed the number of couples tying the knot in 2022 fell by about 800,000 compared with 2021, beating that year’s record low. China’s marriage rate has declined rapidly over the past 10 years, since peaking in 2013 when nearly 13.5 million couples wed, nearly double last year’s count. Policymakers in China are increasingly worried about the stubborn downward trend in marriage – and…
Indian ministers rebuke Der Spiegel for ‘racist’ cartoon mocking population size
A cartoon in the German magazine Der Spiegel poking fun at India as it becomes more populous than China has been castigated as “racist” by Indian ministers. The cartoon shows a rickety old Indian train packed with people and swarms of passengers atop it. On a parallel track, a sleek Chinese bullet train is seen with just two drivers, looking surprised at the sight of the Indian train. According to United Nations projections published on Monday, India has a population of 1,425,775,850, surpassing China for the first time. Kanchan Gupta,…
Hong Kong: some schools face closure as birthrate and exodus take toll
Hong Kong schools are being forced to merge or prepare for closure as a decade-long decline in the birthrate and a recent exodus of residents from the city has led to a plunge in student numbers. Local media have reported that at least five schools face closure in coming years after they failed to reach the minimum 16 enrolments in the first grade. There have been two recent cases of schools merging with each other due to insufficient student numbers. The secretary of the city’s education department, Dr Choi Yuk-lin,…
Life at 25 in India and China: money worries, hard work and no plans for family
India has become the world’s most populous country, according to the United Nations’ latest projections, knocking China off the top spot for the first time since the UN began keeping records. Both countries are facing significant demographic challenges, be it dealing with the legacy of a disastrous one-child policy and ageing population or working out how to take advantage of a booming youth cohort while managing huge disparities in the growth rates of different states. We asked two 25-year-olds – one from each country – about their lives and aspirations.…
India overtakes China to become world’s most populous country
India has overtaken China as the world’s most populous country, according to UN population estimates, the most significant shift in global demographics since records began. According to the UN’s projections, which are calculated through a variety of factors including census data and birth and death rates, India now has a population of 1,425,775,850, surpassing China for the first time. It is also the first time since 1950, when the UN first began keeping global population records, that China has been knocked off the top spot. China’s population decline follows decades…