Charts of the Day: Marriage Loses Its Luster in China

The number of marriage registrations in China plunged last year to the fewest in 43 years as more young people opted to stay single. The decline adds to pressure on the country’s sliding birth rate, which is driving a profound demographic shift.

Marriage registrations dropped 10.6% year-on-year to 6.8 million couples, according to data from the Ministry of Civil Affairs released earlier this month. The marriage rate was 4.8 per thousand, declining 0.06 of a percentage point from the previous year.