The marriage rate and birth rate in China are closely watched each year by people in and outside the formerly most populous country on earth. On 9 February, China’s Ministry of Civil Affairs released the official data on marriage registrations across the country. In 2024, marriage registrations recorded 6.11 million pairs, a 20.5% drop compared to 7.68 million pairs in 2023. 2024 also recorded 2.59 million divorces, a 1.1% increase from the previous year.
The marriage rate in China has been in continuous decline since 2013, before rallying in 2023. Not only is the over 20% rate a steeper drop than 2020’s Covid-era data, but the number is also the lowest since the record began in 1980. Compared to 2014, marriage registrations have dropped 52.5% in a decade.
On Weibo, China’s Twitter equivalent, the topic “Why marriage registration dropped again in 2024” topped the Hot Search list with 45.35 million views in 24 hours. Many netizens cite the “cooling down” period for divorce, low income and harsh working environments as key reasons for not getting married.
Of course, we need to take into account the boost in 2023 including those who intended to marry during the pandemic. This is in addition to 2024 which was called a “Widow Year” in regions of China, as the Year of the Dragon had no Lichun solar term, which signifies the beginning of spring. It occurred before the Chinese New Year, which meant the Year of the Rabbit had two Lichuns).
Experts also believe that the cost of marriage and the view on marriage has changed; many young people choose not to marry. The proportion of people who were unmarried at the age of 30 increased to 29.97% in 2023, up from 14.56% in 2013. With low marriage rates and low birth rates continuing to be a concern in East Asian countries such as Japan and South Korea, experts believe that China might also be on the same trajectory.
