China’s missing children

A t the beginning of 2022, a provincial authority in southern China proposed an unusual measure to combat the birth crisis: well-educated, "older" single women should be given better treatment when looking for jobs and housing — as long as they marry one of the many unemployed bachelors in the region. Other provincial governments in China are trying their hand at matchmaking: officials in small towns and villages host dating events, and government agencies have created public singles databases.

The desperation of China's rulers is real. The number of births is declining year by year, reaching new negative records. In 2021, fewer babies were born than in any year since 1949, the founding year of the People's Republic and the beginning of Chinese birth records. Earlier this year, it was announced that the population had fallen for the first time in 60 years.

In 2016, the decades-old one-child policy was changed to a two-child policy. Since 2021, Chinese couples have been allowed three children. Neither of these changes has been able to stop the downward trend in births. According to a recent survey of young Chinese between the ages of 18 and 26, almost half of the women said they didn't want to marry or have children. The Chinese birth rate has plummeted to 1.3, one of the lowest in the world — even people in Japan and Italy are having more children. For China's communist leadership, the rapid ageing of the population is an enormous problem. By 2050, the working-age portion of the population will shrink by one-fifth. The costs for pensions and care for the elderly will skyrocket.

Cost considerations

Teng Ling, 36, is a Shanghai-based advertising manager and one of those urban, middle-class women who rule out having more than one child. "Far too expensive," she says. Before her son was born, three years ago, she says that she and her husband were uncertain whether they wanted to start a family at all. "We travelled a lot and had a comfortable life. The two of us lived very well." Spending on day care and early education already costs the couple more than a third of their household income.

On average, Chinese parents invest more money in their children's education than parents in any other country. The social competitiveness is relentless. In 2022, over ten million university graduates streamed on to the job market. Economic growth is slowing, and finding a job is becoming more difficult even for young Chinese who have an elite education.

Whether state-run dating services will drive up the number of marriages and births in China is doubtful. After the suggestion that single women be given incentives to marry unemployed men, there was an uproar on Chinese internet forums. "Let the daughters of government officials lead the way," read one widely shared comment on social media.