Young Chinese put kids, marriage on back burner at record rate as cost pressures and Covid overwhelm
- The number of couples that registered for marriage in China is on pace to hit a historic low this year
- While the shrinking size of China’s marriageable population is one reason for the decline, an increasing reluctance to marry is seen to be a more crucial factor
Media worker Liu Maomao has a special list of contacts on her QQ and WeChat messaging apps, and in them lies a gaggle of more than a dozen blind dates from yesteryear.
But rather than serving as a selection of potential suitors, it’s become a neglected rolodex that the 36-year-old Beijing resident hasn’t refreshed or updated in six years.
She says she’s simply no longer “in the mood for love”.
“There is no particular reason … maybe just because it feels so good after living alone for a long time,” Liu said.
Liu is among the millions of young Chinese adults choosing not to marry, or to at least delay marriage, as they have become put off by the soaring costs of settling down and raising a family. And this growing sense of apathy serves as a worrying red flag for policymakers as the country steels itself for a worsening demographic crisis.
The phenomena, while not unique to China, has been further exacerbated there after nearly three years of highly disruptive coronavirus curbs.