Newlyweds register their marriage in Hohhot, North China's Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region on June 1, 2023, the first day that China expanded an inter-provincial marriage registration pilot program to allow people living outside their household registration province to register their marriages where they live. Photo: VCG

The number of marriage registrations in China in the first quarter of this year reached 2.147 million, and the number of divorce registrations was 641,000, an increase of 40,000 and 127,000, respectively, compared with the first quarter of 2022, according to data released on the official website of the Ministry of Civil Affairs.

In fact, the number of marriages in China has been consistently declining over the past decade, reaching record lows year by year. Statistics show that the number of marriage registrations in the first quarter of China peaked in 2013 at 4.282 million pairs, but since then, the figure has decreased year after year. 

In addition to the distorted data due to the outbreak of COVID-19 in 2020, the first quarter of each year is the period with the highest number of marriage registrations among the four quarters, a civil affairs official told the media, explaining that special days such as the Spring Festival, Valentine's Day, 520 (May 20) and Qixi festival tend to witness a higher rate of marriages being registered. 

Nevertheless, due to the decrease in the number of young people of marriage and childbearing age, the number of marriage registrations in the first quarter has also shown a continuous downward trend in recent years.

According to the China Census Yearbook 2020, the average age of first marriages in China changed relatively slowly from 1980 to 2010. The average age of first marriages was 23.59 in 1980 and 24.89 in 2010. In the second decade of the 21st century, the average age of first marriages has risen rapidly. The average age of first marriages in China in 2020 was 28.67, which was 3.78 years older than that in 2010.

Several factors influence the age of first marriages, Professor Ren Yuan from the population research institute of Fudan University was quoted by Yicai.com as saying. In addition to being affected by changes in employment and lifestyle due to industrialization and urbanization, a significant factor is the improvement in educational attainment among the "post-1980s" and "post-1990s" generations. With more years of education, people tend to delay their marriages for careers or personal development.

China's National Health Commission (NHC) said that people are having fewer children and are being more selective about the circumstances in which they choose to start a family, in response to calls for more policies aimed at encouraging larger families. 

The top health body said that it has already removed the policy of encouraging people to get married and have children at a later age when revising population and family planning law in 2015 and that government of all levels also took the rule out when formulating population and family planning policies.

In 2021, China announced policy changes that allow each couple to have up to three children after the number of the country's newborns declined for four years straight.

Many motions and proposals submitted for China's annual two sessions in March focus on boosting the low birth rate, after the Chinese mainland recorded negative population growth in 2022, the first time in 61 years. Suggestions include scrapping the requirement to be legally married to register and give birth, and granting children born to unmarried parents equal rights.

Global Times