China is facing demographic problems and declining fertility challenges. According to the latest reports, the number of singles in China has exceeded 2400 million people, including 42 million older singles, may struggle to find a lifelong partner. This has led to reflections on marriage and childbearing. This article will address this issue through the voices of ordinary people.
In cities, more and more young people are not considering marriage until after the age of 30. A typical example is my younger brother, who is 36 years old this year, is a doctor in Beijing with a monthly salary of 10,000, and his girlfriend is a ** with a monthly salary of 8,000. Although they have a decent income, it is difficult to save any money every month. Moreover, my girlfriend is not in a hurry to get married and hopes to buy a house in Beijing. However, in a bustling city like Beijing, the burden of buying a house and a car is not easy. It is not easy for ordinary people to survive in this city where every inch of land is valuable.
And in rural areas, the age of marriage is also being delayed. Nowadays, there are blind date corners in parks in major cities, and most of them are parents looking for partners for their children. Whether it is Chengdu, Sichuan or Chang'an, Hebei, there are blind date corners. However, due to the large number of older unmarried, many parents will choose the right person, requiring the other party to have a high degree of education, a stable job, and at least a house and a car. And these are the basic hard conditions. The house is a safe haven for the two, and the car and money are the guarantee of married life.
Not only cities, but also rural areas are facing an increase in the cost of marriage. The high cost of bride price has become a major problem for older young people to get married. According to statistics, the national average bride price amount is 690,000 yuan. In some provinces, such as Zhejiang, Heilongjiang, Fujian, Jiangxi and other places, the bride price is as high as hundreds of thousands of yuan. These high bride price costs discourage many older youths, leading to a decline in the marriage rate.
The decline in the marriage rate has also led directly to the decline in the fertility rate. More and more young people are marrying later and having children later, and the age of having children is also delayed. Not only that, but more and more families are having only one child. All these have brought great challenges to the country's policy of encouraging childbirth.
*Document No. 1 sets out the goal of strengthening rural fertility support and infant and child care services, with the aim of reducing the cost of education and improving people's quality of life. **Strengthen care and services for special groups such as migrant children, left-behind children, women, the elderly, and persons with disabilities, encourage rural births, and provide better care services for infants and young children in rural areas.
The introduction of this policy is an emphasis and concern for the issue of childbirth in rural areas. Due to the high economic requirements of women in rural areas, many older young men choose to give up marriage and live a "lying flat" life. The policy initiatives are aimed at reducing the financial pressure on these young people and giving them more confidence and motivation to start a family.
Through the voices of the common people and the first document, we can see the dilemmas and challenges faced by marriage and childbirth in Chinese society. Whether in urban or rural areas, young people are getting married later and having children later, and the threshold for marriage is getting higher and higher, and the decline in fertility has become a problem that cannot be ignored.
However, the policy initiatives set out in Document I demonstrate the interest and efforts to address this issue. Strengthening fertility support and infant and child care services in rural areas, reducing the cost of education and improving quality of life will bring more motivation and opportunities for fertility in rural areas.
As an individual, I believe that the best policy is only part of the solution, and more importantly, the society should form a good atmosphere for marriage and childbirth, so that young people have more choices and opportunities to pursue a happy family life. Only through the efforts and joint efforts of all sectors of society can we truly solve this population problem and the fertility problem and bring better development and prosperity to China's future.