More and more Chinese citizens are opting to remain single and not go in for marriage amid rising job uncertainties and cost of living. This is a cause for worry at a time, when China is battling slowing birth rates. Though Beijing has come out with a host of incentives for couples to have more than two children, the fall in marriage rate has added to the problem. A total of 7.63 million marriages were registered in 2021. This is the lowest since 1986 –the year when the official records on marriages started. In 202, there were more than 8.13 million marriages.
Marriage rate peaked in 2013 when 13.46 million marriages took place.
According to the New York Times, the fall in marriages has contributed to a plummet in birthrates, a worrying sign in China’s rapidly graying society and a phenomenon more familiar in countries like Japan and South Korea. “Many young Chinese people say they would prefer not to get married, as a job becomes harder to find, competition more fierce and the cost of living less manageable,” the news organisation said.
Despite a fall in marriage rate, divorce rates have increased in the country.
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In fact, the problem acquired such a scale that last year the government introduced a new rule which mandated unhappy marriages unhappy couples opting for divorce to undergo a 30-day “cooling off” period before finalizing it. While this has helped in reducing the divorce rate in the country—officials hailed this measure as a success—the fact is that number of marriages have been falling.
A growing population would mean slowing consumption.
The International Monetary Fund noted that an aging population and slower expansion in the labour force affect economies in many ways—"the growth of GDP slows, working-age people pay more to support the elderly, and public budgets strain under the burden of the higher total cost of health and retirement programs for old people.”
“China’s social problems are worrying the authorities. Many Chinese millennials who are graduates refuse to go in for marriages, many married couples refuse to have children—this is a real problem for China as this can seriously lead to economic issues in just a few years,” BR Deepak expert on China and Professor at Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) told India Narrative.
Analysts said that while economic issues are relatively easier to resolve, such social issues may not have easy solutions. “These need mindset change, for example marriages cannot happen by force,” one of them added.
