China records surprise jump in marriages, raising hopes of births rebound
Beijing is striving to encourage more young people to get married and have children as it bids to arrest the country’s demographic decline
China recorded a surprise rebound in marriage registrations in the second quarter as a new policy making it easier for couples to tie the knot kicked in, raising hopes that the government’s efforts to mitigate the country’s demographic decline may be starting to show results.
A total of 3.54 million couples in China got married during the first half of 2025, an increase of 109,000 compared with the same period last year, according to data from the Ministry of Civil Affairs.
The uptick was driven by a big rebound in marriages in the second quarter, with the number of registrations jumping by 268,000 after falling by 159,000 in the first quarter, the data showed.
The Chinese government has been acting with greater urgency to encourage young people to get married and have children in recent months, as it worries the country’s declining population could represent a long-term threat to economic growth and social stability.
A major driver of the increase in marriages so far this year has been the introduction of a new streamlined registration process that came into force in May, according to He Yafu, an independent demographer based in China’s southern Guangdong province.