Marriage Photo: VCG

Statistics show that 4.747 million couples across the country tied the knot during the first three quarters of 2024, down by 943,000 couples from the same period of 2023. Demographers are advocating for more publicity efforts to be made to encourage marriage and childbirth at an appropriate age. 

The data was released by China's Ministry of Civil Affairs on Friday. It also released data showing that nationwide divorces reached 1.96 million during the first three quarters of 2024, a drop of 6,000 compared with the same period in 2023.

The number of marriage registrations in the first half of 2024 reached a record low, according to The Paper. Statistics from the ministry show that the number of marriage registrations nationwide had been declining for years before 2023 when the number rebounded, according to the report.

A total of 3.73 million couples across the country tied the knot in the first half of 2022 and this rose to 3.92 million in the first half of 2023. However, marriage registrations fell again to 3.43 million in the first half of 2024. 

From the perspective of the year-round statistics, the number of marriage registrations nationwide in 2013 reached to 13.46 million, whereas the figures began to decline for nine years in a row since 2014, falling below 10 million in 2019, and further under 8 million in 2021, according to The Paper. 

In 2022, nationwide marriage registrations dropped to 6.83 million, breaking the 7 million mark, but then rose back to 7.68 million in 2023, according to the report.

The expected number of marriages registered for the year 2024 would still be fewer than that of 6.83 million in 2022, indicating that 2024 may see the lowest marriage registration number since 1980, He Yafu, an independent demographic expert who has long tracked marriage registration data, told the Global Times on Sunday.

The reason for the increase in the number of marriage registrations in 2023 compared to the previous year was that many couples chose to put off their weddings due to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic between 2020 and 2022, resulting in a compensatory surge in 2023, He told the Global Times, noting that the year-on-year decline in marriage registrations during the first three quarters of 2024, however, suggests that the post-pandemic compensatory effect has essentially ended. 

The decline in marriage registrations in recent years is also closely related to the smaller population base of those born around the year 2000, Zhai Zhenwu, president of the China Population Association and a professor at Renmin University of China, told the Global Times on Sunday. 

In response to changes in the country's demographic development, China's National Health Commission (NHC) in September advocated people having marriage and childbirth at an appropriate age, called for increased efforts to guide young people toward positive views on marriage, childbirth, and family, and to create a more childbearing-friendly society. Zhai also suggested that strengthening promotion efforts by media publicity is necessary.