The issue of infertility is becoming increasingly prominent in mainland China. Industry organizations predict that by 2035, the number of infertile couples may increase to 74.4 million pairs.
According to a report by “First Financial” on August 12, the official Chinese Communist Party has not regularly released unified national infertility rate statistics in recent years. In March of this year, the global renowned enterprise growth consulting firm “Frost & Sullivan” released a white paper indicating that the infertility rate in China was around 18.2% in 2023, equivalent to about one in every five to six couples of childbearing age facing fertility issues. The organization projects that the number of infertile couples will increase from 60.6 million pairs in 2025 to 74.4 million pairs in 2035.
Data released by the National Medical Insurance Administration of the Chinese Communist Party in 2025 indicates that this proportion is approximately 12% to 15%, affecting at least 50 million families.
The “China Population Census Almanac-2020” shows that the average age of first marriage in China has increased from 24.89 years in 2010 to 28.67 years in 2020, with the average age of first marriage for women rising from 24 to 27.95 in a decade, almost a 4-year delay.
Mao Hua, senior partner at Frost & Sullivan, mentioned that the postponement of marriage and childbirth age, declining sperm quality in men, as well as increased environmental pollution, lifestyle changes, and reproductive health risks are all linked to the increase in the number of infertility cases.
Data from the Chinese Health Commission shows that a woman’s fertility starts to decline after the age of 30, and this decline accelerates after 35.
The related data has sparked discussions among netizens. Some said, “The deepest fertility anxiety comes from the desire to conceive but being unable to do so.”
With the increasing number of infertile couples, there are also growing numbers of assisted reproductive institutions in mainland China. The Chinese Health Commission stated in June that there are already 645 assisted reproductive institutions in China.
An article on the website of the National Medical Insurance Administration of the Chinese Communist Party mentioned that the cost of a single assisted reproductive transplant cycle usually ranges from 30,000 to 40,000 RMB, with over half of women needing to undergo treatment once again or multiple times.
By the end of 2024, several provinces in mainland China and the Xinjiang Production and Construction Corps had included some suitable assisted reproduction projects in medical insurance. However, the payment items, reimbursement ratios, and frequency limits vary across regions, and patients still need to bear some medication costs themselves.
Some netizens shared stories like a 38-year-old colleague who has been married for nine years, undergoing three rounds of IVF treatment, spending over one hundred thousand yuan, and still continuing to try. The colleague lamented, “I used to fear not getting pregnant, but now the inability to conceive is even more distressing.”
As the number of infertile individuals rises, the birth rate in China continues to decline. Data from the National Bureau of Statistics of the Chinese Communist Party shows that the number of births in 2025 was only 7.92 million, a decrease of about 17% from 2024, reaching a new low since 1949.
On Chinese social media, phrases like “unable to get married, afraid to have children” are frequently mentioned. Some young people tend to delay or forgo marriage and childbirth due to economic pressures and family responsibilities.