The number of marriage registrations in China during the first half of this year has reached its lowest level since 2013, according to official data released by the Chinese Communist Party’s Ministry of Civil Affairs. The statistics for the second quarter of 2024, released on August 2nd, show that 3.43 million couples got married nationwide in the first half of this year. This is a decrease of 498,000 compared to the same period in 2023, representing a decline of 12.7 percent.
The number of marriage registrations in the first half of this year is even lower than during the same period in 2022 when strict COVID-19 lockdown measures were imposed by the regime. Although there was a rebound to 3.928 million marriages in 2023 after all COVID-19 restrictions were lifted, there has been another decline this year.
Public records indicate that marriage registrations peaked at around 13.47 million couples in China back in 2013 and have been declining steadily ever since. By 2022, it had fallen to approximately half that number at around 6.835 million couples.
Experts attribute this decline to various factors including economic conditions and low expectations for family happiness among young people due to poverty and high levels of debt caused by the CCP’s economic development model.
Furthermore, concerns have been raised about how these low marriage rates will impact China’s population growth and labor force succession as well as its economy overall.
While some experts question the accuracy and transparency of official numbers released by the CCP regarding population decline and other issues such as COVID-19 death tolls, it is widely acknowledged that negative population growth is a significant contributing factor to these low marriage rates.
It remains to be seen how these trends will continue moving forward and what implications they may have for China’s society and economy.
