by Luna Sun in SCMP, Feb 5, 2023
Most college students in China no longer think getting married is a necessity in life, while policies to encourage births have barely swayed their reluctance to start a family, according to a new survey.

They now view marriage as a way to promote the quality of both spiritual and material life in a marked change from older generations, said the report jointly released last month by various organisations, including the China Family Planning Association.

The results shed light on China’s deepening demographic crisis, as it grapples with a record-low birth rate and an unprecedented population decline in its modern history.

“Independence from men has become a symbol of contemporary women, while emotional foundation and career stability have become preconditions for marriage,” the report said.

“Marriage is no longer a prerequisite for sexual behaviour, and most college students no longer regard divorce as a shame.”

The number of people getting married for the first time in China dropped to 11.6 million last year, almost 700,000 down on the previous year, according to the China Statistics Yearbook 2022. This was well down on a peak of 23.9 million in 2013.

“Building a career before starting a family” has become a principle for both men and women, while “pain during childbirth” is the primary fear women have against giving birth, according to the report.

The Capital University of Economics and Business in Beijing and the China Youth Network also contributed to the report, which did not provide any additional information about how many college students had been surveyed or when the survey took place.

China’s population fell by 850,000 to 1.4118 billion in 2022 as deaths outnumbered births for the first time in six decades, with the number of newborns dropping below 10 million for the first time in modern history.

The policies rolled out to encourage people to have children have also had very little effect on young people’s desire to start a family, the report added.

Only 8 per cent of the surveyed students said measures, including cash incentives, had increased their willingness to have babies, while more than 40 per cent said they have been unaffected by the third-child policy, which was introduced in May 2021.

Compared with the ineffectiveness of pronatalist policies, college students hope to see more policies that offer employment support.

China’s urban surveyed jobless rate stood at 5.5 per cent in December, down from 5.7 per cent in November, but the jobless rate for the 16-24 age group remained at an elevated level of 16.7 per cent in December, down from 17.1 per cent in November.

The report concluded that policymakers need to soften the conflict between willingness to start families and young people’s career paths, while paying more attention to the needs of women and their perspectives.

Chinese women, especially those married with children, are seen as more vulnerable to discrimination in the job market, while many are forced to choose between having children and their career. They are often seen to be held back in the early stages of their careers due to child-rearing responsibilities.

The high level of acceptance of “unmarried cohabitation” paralleled with the low level of acceptance of “illegitimate birth” is also an underlying threat to low birth rates, the report said.

Despite disagreements on whether China will see small rebounds in the number of births in the years to come, the consensus is that China’s population has peaked, and that authorities must act to encourage childbirth and accommodate the changing demographic structure.

Demographers have pegged surveys as an important way to understand the fundamental changes in young people’s beliefs and what new generations think about having children.

As China becomes more keenly aware of the demographic challenges it is facing, more surveys have been conducted, while the results have increasingly caught public attention.

In September, Chinese authorities launched a nationwide marital and maternity survey to gain insight into what is driving the country’s declining marriage and birth rates.

In April, a report published by Renmin University showed that 61 per cent of surveyed college students said they will get married, while 7 per cent said they would not.

For male university students, their biggest concern was the cost of marriage, while female students were more concerned about the negative impact on their self development. https://www.scmp.com/economy/economic-indicators/article/3209027/china-population-college-students-focused-career-starting-family-amid-demographic-crisis-survey