China population: reluctance to marry, have kids continued in 2022 as demographic woes deepened
- Over 51 per cent of people aged between 25 and 29 in China remained single in 2022, while the unmarried rate for the thirty-something age group also rose mildly
- The annual fertility rate for women of childbearing age also declined due to a plunge in the number of babies born as a second child, adding to ongoing demographic issues
Willingness to get married and have children continued to fall in China last year, with a significant drop also seen in the interest to raise a second child, an official yearbook on population and employment statistics for 2022 showed.
Over 51 per cent of people aged between 25 and 29 in China remained single in 2022, up from 48.7 per cent for the previous year, the 2023 China Population and Employment Statistical Yearbook showed.
The unmarried rate for the thirty-something age group also rose mildly, according to data based on a sample survey conducted by the National Bureau of Statistics in November 2022.
Meanwhile, the annual fertility rate for women of childbearing age – the number of births for every 1,000 women aged between 15 and 49 – dropped from 31.27 in 2021 to 30.22 in 2022, the survey showed.
The fall in China’s fertility rate was largely caused by a plunge in the number of babies born as a second child, which slumped from 13.48 to 9.58 per 1,000 women, according to the yearbook.