Charts of the Day: China’s Young Are Shunning Marriage

While much attention has been on China’s shrinking birth rate, new figures from China’s Ministry of Civil Affairs show young people are decreasingly inclined to get married, too.

China’s national marriage rate grew continuously in the nine years to 2013, when it peaked at 9.9%, before dropping the next year. By 2017, it had plunged to 7.7%. Meanwhile, the number of new marriage registrations decreased from 13.47 million in 2013 to 10.63 million in 2017.

The dwindling marriage rate was accompanied by a rise in the average age that people are getting married. According to figures from Chinese brokeage Founder Securities, those aged 20 to 24 made up the majority of newly registered marriages before 2013, whereas by 2017, people aged 25 to 29 dominated, accounting for 35.9%.

China is not the only country to experience this phenomenon. Various developed countries including the United States, most European countries and Japan, have all undergone a similar process whereby people choose to marry later in life, or not at all. As societal norms change, women received a better education and people face less immediate economic pressure, it is common for young people to turn away from marriage.

Contact reporter Gao Baiyu (baiyugao@caixin.com)