On The Radar: Marriage rates drop in China
15 June 2023
Wedding bells are apparently not in the future for couples in China.
According to recent reports, marriages in China dropped to a historic low in 2022, at a time when the country is also recording a slow in birth rates.
China isn’t necessarily alone in this trend – other North Asia countries such as Japan and Korea are facing similar declines, in line with other global trends.
However, China’s declining marriage rate has drawn more attention recently, after the UN earlier released research showing China’s position as the most populous country has been overtaken by India.
For decades, China has been a powerhouse in growth - both in population and other metrics, but now the country is facing an issue of an ageing population.
Recent reporting has tied China's dropping birth rate with dropping marriage rates – younger people in China are increasingly favouring a ‘DINK’ lifestyle (Double Income, No Kids), or putting off marriage altogether.
China's marriage rate peaked in 2013 with 13.5 million weddings, and has dropped steadily since. In 2022, figures show 6.83 million couples were married, down roughly 800,000 from 2021.
Some have pointed to China’s strict pandemic lockdowns as a factor for dropping nuptials. But several other key reasons are also driving this shift away from marriage, according to analysts and commentators: the cost of weddings (including the cost of a dowry or 'bride price') and changing attitudes towards traditional societal expectations.
Others point to the longer reaching implications of China's now-defunct One Child policy: in broad terms, favouring sons over daughters during the policy period led to gender imbalances in a generation now coming into age.
Last year, 17 different Chinese agencies announced a raft of measures addressing everything from day care to workplace discrimination to help make the path to marriage and parenthood smoother. However, this doesn't seem to have made an impact yet.
While some initiatives are addressing these barriers, a recent survey released on International Women’s Day in March found 40 percent of unmarried women who responded said they were planning to get married later in life, or not at all.
- Asia Media Centre
