News Analysis

Local governments across China are offering various incentives to encourage people to get married amid declining marriage rates.

A civil affairs official in Sichuan Province recently told the Chinese-language edition of The Epoch Times that authorities have issued explicit marriage registration quotas, requiring local offices to show monthly increases in the number of newly registered couples.

“In June, higher authorities ordered us to improve the marriage registration system, remove obstacles, and increase the number of registrations by 20 percent each month,” said the official, who requested anonymity due to fear of retaliation by authorities.

“Now, everyone is trying to meet the quota. We’re even being told to persuade divorced people to remarry and to match up single seniors.”

The official added that the monthly quota has become more specific recently.

“They tell us how many couples must marry each month, but where are we supposed to find people who actually want to get married? Those who wanted to marry have already done so.”

Marriage as a ‘Performance Metric’

This push follows a State Council directive signed by Premier Li Qiang in April that revised China’s Marriage Registration Regulation, which took effect in May. The revised regulation instructs local governments to strengthen marriage and family guidance and establish counseling systems. Many officials interpret this as an order to actively promote marriage, according to China observers.

Since early 2025, local governments have introduced a flurry of marriage incentive schemes—from cash bonuses to shopping vouchers.

According to China’s state media, newlyweds under the age of 35 in Luliang, Shanxi Province, receive a cash bonus of 1,500 yuan ($210). Last month, in Zhejiang Province, Ningbo city began issuing 1,000 yuan ($140) wedding vouchers, a move soon adopted by Shaoxing and Hangzhou. In Nanling Village, a wealthy area of Guangzhou city in Guangdong Province, couples who are registered as local shareholders can receive up to 200,000 yuan (about $27,000) in marriage and childbirth subsidies.

The measures have been met with widespread criticism on Chinese social media.

“Marriage is a personal choice, not a government performance indicator,” one netizen wrote.

Another commented, “Those pressured by relatives to marry are now under even greater pressure.”

Adoption Rises

Meanwhile, children’s welfare institutions in Sichuan Province are experiencing an unprecedented wave of adoptions, according to staff.

“Many people don’t want to get married; they just come to adopt,” said Wang, an employee at a provincial children’s home who also spoke on condition of anonymity due to fear of retaliation by authorities.

“Healthy children are adopted almost immediately. People line up, and some even volunteer at the children’s home so they can be first in line when a child becomes available,” she told The Epoch Times.

Wang said that only children with severe disabilities remain unadopted and “even those with mild disabilities are being adopted.”

“People would rather adopt than get married,” she said, adding that this trend reflects a growing disinterest in traditional family structures.

Apathy Toward Marriage

China’s official marriage rate has been falling for a decade, reaching record lows, despite local government efforts to reverse demographic decline.

The most recent available data from the Ministry of Civil Affairs indicate that approximately 6.1 million marriages were registered in 2024, a 20.5 percent drop from 7.68 million in 2023. Marriage registrations in China have been steadily declining since 2014, reaching 6.84 million in 2022 before a modest rebound in 2023. The 2024 figure is now less than half the number recorded in 2013, the peak year for marriage registrations.

“With unemployment so high and job opportunities scarce, especially in smaller cities and counties, how can people afford to get married?” said Zhang, a Chinese economist who only provided his last name due to fear of reprisal from the authorities, told The Epoch Times.

“Buying a home and a car has become a prerequisite, but property prices remain unaffordable, and living costs are rising.”

He went on to say that China’s real estate-driven economy has eroded optimism about the future.

“The Chinese Communist Party’s model has monetized the next 30 or 40 years of the people’s income through inflated housing prices,” he said. “It’s a short-sighted, self-destructive approach that sacrifices the future for short-term gain.”

Zhang said that pressure from the authorities could produce a short-term uptick in marriage registrations, but it won’t reverse the broader economic decline.

“These policies might raise the numbers for a few months,” he said, “but they can’t change the long-term trend, as people’s attitudes toward marriage—and their economic realities—have already shifted.”