Translation. Region: Russian Federal
Source: People’s Republic of China in Russian – People’s Republic of China in Russian –
Source: People’s Republic of China – State Council News
BEIJING, May 21 (Xinhua) — A total of 1.81 million couples in China legalized their relationships in the first quarter of 2025, down 8 percent from the same period in 2024, according to data from the Ministry of Civil Affairs.
After a nine-year decline, the country’s marriage rate briefly turned up in 2023. However, in 2024, the downward trend resumed, and the number of marriages fell to its lowest level since 1980.
Experts attribute the overall decline to a decline in the number of people of marriageable age, changing Chinese attitudes about marriage and financial concerns associated with marriage.
Demographer He Yafu, who has been tracking marriage data in the country for a long time, calculated based on data from the 7th National Population Census that in 2025, the number of women aged 15-49 in China will decrease by more than 16 million compared to 2020, among which the number of women aged 20-39 will decrease by more than 14 million. At the same time, according to the census data, there were 17.52 million more men of marriageable age (20 to 40 years old) in China than women.
Li Ting, a population expert at Renmin University of China, said higher levels of education and a growing sense of individualism had combined to significantly change traditional Chinese views on marriage.
“Nowadays, master’s students are usually 25 or 26 years old when they graduate, and doctoral graduates are usually around 30 or older. If they work for a few years, they will become even older and will postpone marriage until later,” said Tan Kejian, a research fellow at the Shanxi Academy of Social Sciences in northern China.
“In the past, young people often got married around the time they finished their studies or started working, but now many do not think about marriage, or only if they plan to have children,” Li Ting added.
According to the 2020 China Census Yearbook, the average age at first marriage in China was 28.67 years old, up nearly four years from 24.89 years in 2010. And the figure is still rising. Official data showed that among those in their 30s, the proportion of those who have never married rose from 14.56 percent in 2014 to 29.97 percent in 2024.
Moreover, for some young people, celibacy is their voluntary choice.
As one netizen put it on the popular microblogging site Weibo: “If I were married, there’s no way I could enjoy the freedom I have now.” Another commented: “If I can’t find the right person, I’d rather stay single than settle down.”
Other Weibo users pointed out the difficulties of life, noting that raising a child can be a grueling process that often involves the entire family, including parents on both sides.
Sociologist Li Yinhe believes that the growing number of single people is closely linked to the country’s ongoing processes of urbanization and modernization.
“In the past, women who were not married often had no means of support. But today, women are quite capable of earning their own living and no longer have to rely on men. As a result, the desire to marry has significantly decreased compared to earlier times,” she explained.
While Chinese society has become more accepting of single people, the decline in new marriages has also led to a decline in the birth rate, a trend that is causing growing public concern.
In response to these changes, Chinese authorities have introduced various incentives to create a society that is friendly to newlyweds.
Earlier in April, the government revised the rules for registering marriages, reducing the amount of paperwork and giving couples more freedom to choose where to register their union. The new rules came into force on May 10 this year.
Some parts of China have already begun offering incentives for getting married. In a village in the southern city of Guangzhou, Guangdong Province, newlyweds can apply for a bonus of up to 40,000 yuan (about $5,490), while the northern city of Lüliang, Shanxi Province, is offering 1,500 yuan to women who marry before age 35. In east China’s Zhejiang Province, paid leave for marriage has been extended from three to 13 days.
China is also increasingly offering conveniences to single young people as a “single person economy” gradually takes shape.
Restaurants are offering single-serving meals, the market for single-occupancy apartments is booming, and small appliances and compact kitchenware are gaining popularity. Services such as solo travel and one-person wedding photo shoots are also on the rise.
Li Ting noted that over the past three decades, the number of people choosing to remain single for life in countries such as the Republic of Korea and Japan has steadily increased, and this trend may well reflect the future of marriage in China. -0-