Health authorities in China’s southwestern Sichuan province have proposed sweeping changes to marriage and parental leave policies in a bid to foster a “fertility-friendly society” and combat the nation’s declining birth rates.
The proposed measures, published by Sichuan’s Health Commission, suggest extending marriage leave to 25 days—five times the current allowance of five days—and maternity leave to 150 days, up from 60. Paternity leave would also be increased from 20 to 30 days to encourage shared parenting responsibilities. The public has been invited to submit feedback on the proposal from 30 May to 30 June.
The move comes amid growing alarm over China’s demographic trajectory. The country’s population fell for the third consecutive year in 2024, and analysts warn that the decline could accelerate in the years ahead, threatening long-term economic stability in the world’s second-largest economy.
Sichuan, home to 84 million people—more than the populations of countries like Germany or the United Kingdom—has become one of China’s most progressive provinces on family policy. It has previously allowed unmarried women to access IVF treatment and extended certain benefits traditionally reserved for married couples to single individuals.
China has been grappling with low birth rates since the end of its decades-long one-child policy in 2015. Challenges such as the rising cost of living, expensive childcare and education, job insecurity, and shifting societal values have discouraged many young Chinese from marrying and starting families.
In response, the central government introduced a range of “fertility-friendly” policies in 2024. These include campaigns to normalise marriage and childbearing at a “right age,” and calls for universities to incorporate “love education” into their curricula to promote positive attitudes toward relationships and family life.
Despite these efforts, social data reveals persistent challenges. In 2023, more than 2.6 million couples filed for divorce—a 1.1% increase from the previous year—highlighting growing societal reluctance to commit to long-term partnerships.
As China faces the prospect of nearly 300 million people reaching retirement age within the next decade, the pressure to reverse the population decline has intensified. Sichuan’s latest proposal marks another step in the nation’s urgent effort to address this looming demographic crisis.
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