China proposed this week changes to marriage and divorce laws that would simplify marriage registration and make it harder to file for divorce, according to a draft law published by the Ministry of Civil Affairs.
The revised laws would remove restrictions that required marriages to be handled at the couple’s household registration location and add a 30-day waiting period for divorces, during which either party can terminate the process.
The birthrate was not enough to offset the high number of deaths, and from 2021 to 2022, China’s population declined for the first time in 60 years, down 850,000.
At the end of 2023, the population decreased another 2 million. China’s total population was nearly 1.41 billion by the end of 2023, according to the National Statistics Bureau.
In 2023, China saw 9 million births, or a rate of 6.39 per thousand—the lowest in China’s history since the CCP seized power in 1949.
Chinese media reported that the proposed policy aims to promote marriage and family, while netizens derided the move.
A total of 7.68 million marriages were registered in 2023, a stark decline from 13.27 million a decade ago in 2013. Meanwhile, divorces went up by half a million in 2023, totaling 2.59 million.
Reuters contributed to this report.