Young Chinese mock proposal to lower legal marriage age to 18 to counter ageing population crisis
- Negative reaction on social media after some legislators suggest change to help arrest falling birth rates
- At present, the law stipulates a minimum age of 22 for men and 20 for women
The latest proposal by China’s legislators to lower the minimum legal age for marriage has been met with confusion and ridicule as the country continues its efforts to address a looming population crisis.
According to the state news agency Xinhua, some members of the National People’s Congress Standing Committee – the executive arm of China’s rubber-stamp legislature – proposed last Wednesday to reduce the age threshold to 18, from 22 for men and 20 for women.
Zhang Sujun, one of the Standing Committee’s members who proposed the change, admitted that it would not on its own reverse a decline in the number of people getting married. But he said it could help, alongside other policies, to address the issue of China’s ageing population amid falling birth rates.
“This is the right direction,” Zhang was quoted as saying by state newspaper Legal Daily. “In line with other policies to reduce the cost of raising children and to encourage having babies, it’s possible to gradually solve the problems.”
NPC deputy Huang Xihua made a similar proposal in 2012 but, coming before China altered its one-child policy, the idea lacked support.