China’s mainland has seen over five million couples register for marriage in the first three quarters of this year, representing an increase of 405,000 compared to the same period last year. To encourage more couples to register, governments in various regions have implemented cash or material incentives. An official from Sichuan Civil Affairs revealed to Dajiyuan that local authorities have been given clear marriage registration targets, leading to a widespread array of incentive activities. People’s interest in marriage has waned, with healthy orphans in welfare homes being adopted in advance, leaving only severely disabled children behind.
Facing the continuous decline in marriage registrations, governments across China have introduced various “stimulus registration” measures to boost marriage numbers. A staff member from the Mianyang Civil Affairs Bureau in Sichuan told Dajiyuan, “In June this year, the superior department required the improvement of the marriage registration system, to remove obstacles to marriage difficulties, increase marriage numbers by 20% per month. Now, we are thinking of ways like promoting remarriage for divorcees and matchmaking for single elderly people.”
She further mentioned that they recently received new marriage registration targets, stating, “It specifies how many new couples need to get married each month. Where can we find people willing to marry? If someone wants to marry, they would have done so already.”
Official data shows that the short-term increase in marriage registration numbers mainly appeared in certain provinces. The Chinese Ministry of Civil Affairs has not yet disclosed the specific sources of the regional targets or statistical basis, but local documents indicate that some cities have indeed set “marriage registration mission goals.”
In April this year, Chinese Premier Li Keqiang signed the revised “Marriage Registration Regulations” which came into effect on May 10. The amendments include requiring local governments at the county level or above to “strengthen comprehensive marriage and family service guidance” and “establish a marriage and family counseling service system,” as well as “including the provision of marriage and family counseling services by marriage registration agencies.” In response to this, the staff member mentioned, “This is like a written rule that local governments have to push for marriages.”
Since the beginning of 2025, various regions in China have introduced a series of “marriage incentives,” ranging from cash red envelopes to vouchers. According to mainland media reports, regions such as Shanxi, Zhejiang, and Guangzhou have implemented relevant policies: Lu Liang in Shanxi rewards first-time couples under 35 years old with 1,500 yuan in cash, which is distributed on-site at registration windows in some areas. Ningbo in Zhejiang started issuing 1,000 yuan marriage vouchers to new couples from October 27, with places like Shaoxing and Hangzhou also following suit. The rewards in Naling Village, Baiyun District, Guangdong, are even more generous, stipulating that for first-time marriages where both parties are village shareholders, the marriage and procreation subsidy can reach up to 200,000 yuan.
Internet users have responded with mockery to these measures. One comment reads, “Marriage is a personal choice, not a government performance indicator.” Another person wrote, “Setting quotas from the top and giving rewards at the local level inevitably causes distress to those pressured into marrying.”
Ms. Wang, from a welfare institution under the Civil Affairs Department of Sichuan Province, told reporters that in recent years, a large number of children have been adopted from the welfare homes: “Many people do not want to get married, so they come to adopt children. The healthy children are being taken away one by one. People line up to adopt. Some adopters come to do volunteer work, just to take the sheltered children away at the earliest opportunity.”
She also mentioned that the children currently remaining unadopted in the welfare home are mostly severely disabled, as those with common disabilities have been adopted unless they are missing limbs. The significant adoption of orphans is due to many people preferring to adopt children rather than getting married.
As of now, the official “marriage registration targets” have not been publicly disclosed as to whether they are nationwide policies, nor has there been a clear response regarding the legality of local implementation of “marriage incentives.”
Over the past two weeks, from urban Shanghai to rural areas, various methods of pressuring marriage have emerged. Cities like Shanghai have set up “night marriage registration” windows, even allowing couples to register their marriage in nightclubs or wedding squares, described as a “new model combining nightlife and marriage registration.” In rural areas, grassroots officials have set up stalls at markets, offering eggs, cups, dish soap, and more to mobilize elderly couples to renew their marriage certificates.
Mrs. Yao, a visitor from Anhui, told reporters that the village broadcast announces “wedding certificate with egg giving” every day, and many elderly couples go and queue up, making the scene lively, resembling a bustling fair.
Comments left by netizens on social platforms include statements like, “Elderly couples getting eggs with their marriage certificates,” and “Get eggs in the spring and again in the fall” to mock that the policies may stimulate short-term registrations rather than genuine marriage demands. One netizen wrote, “City nightclubs for marriage registration, rural markets for egg distribution – it’s the same script,” indicating that grassroots officials, in order to meet registration targets, are manufacturing data using any means necessary. Another comment reads, “This kind of good fortune falls on ordinary people,” highlighting the elderly couples involved, reflecting the public’s helplessness and mockery regarding the formalized policies.
Liu Yuan, a sociologist from the China Population Research Center, expressed to reporters that government “administrative incentives” may temporarily raise registration numbers but will not alter the long-term trend of declining marriage rates, nor will it increase the birth rate.
He stated, “The fundamental reasons for the decline in marriage rates are economic pressure, housing costs, education burdens, and social trust issues. If only indicators and cash incentives are used, it may lead to public rejection of the system. The so-called increase in marriage registration numbers is also a kind of illusion.”
In recent years, young Chinese people have been facing continuous job market pressures, causing many to delay marriage and childbirth, or even opt not to get married at all. “Local government officials treating increasing marriage rates as an administrative task reflects their anxiety and reveals the apparent decline in governance capacity,” Liu Yuan pointed out.
Marriage registration numbers in China have been declining since 2013, dropping below six million couples in 2023. In recent years, local governments have been introducing marriage and parenting incentive policies to combat low fertility rates and declining marriage rates, including cash subsidies, housing benefits, and “marriage tourism” packages. Scholars believe that although these stimulating measures may yield short-term effects, they are unlikely to reverse the long-term downward trend in marriage and childbearing intentions.
Local financial pressures driving “digital marriages”
Zhang Qun, a population scholar, pointed out that local government implementation of “marriage incentives” is mainly driven by financial and population challenges. In recent years, local fiscal revenue has been declining steadily, a contraction in the real estate sector has weakened local tax revenues, and the birth rate has fallen to historical lows, posing a dual challenge of aging population and diminishing workforce for local governments.
He mentioned that policy designs often focus on “immediate visibility” by issuing small amounts of cash or material items to create “policy effectiveness.” However, such measures are unlikely to alleviate the economic burdens of marriage and childbirth and do not address fundamental issues such as housing, employment, and education. “Marriage policies have been localized into short-term performance reviews, from egg distribution to nightclub registrations, reflecting the utilitarian tendencies of grassroots governance,” Zhang Qun said.
Public data from the Chinese Ministry of Finance shows that the national local fiscal deficit continued to expand in 2024, with many provincial and county-level governments relying on central transfers to maintain basic operations. Some regions have included marriage registration incentive costs in specific social affairs expenditures to boost the growth of the “marriage and childbirth recovery rate” indicator. A local official said that the implementation of policies is primarily based on data, as “reporting to the superior about hundreds of new registrations can demonstrate achievements, and giving out eggs is cheaper than building roads.”
Analyses from academia indicate that such incentive policies may superficially increase registration numbers but conceal the reality of an aging marriage structure and declining marriage and childbearing intentions among young people. Experts believe that without a sustainable social support system, local financial subsidies will likely prove unsustainable, and the “marriage stimulation frenzy” will eventually cool off.