Are young Chinese falling out of love with marriage?

A recent survey found that large proportion of young, unmarried people did not expect to tie the knot at a later date

The country is already facing a serious demographic crisis after years of low birth rates and the one-child policy

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Last year saw more people getting divorcd than getting married. Photo: EPA-EFE

Published: 10:00am, 17 Oct 2021Updated: 9:25pm, 17 Oct 2021

Young Chinese are increasingly reluctant to get married, according to a new survey – a trend that threatens to make the country’s dire demographic prospects even worse.

Despite the traditional importance attached to marriage in Chinese culture, the survey of nearly 3,000 unmarried people aged between 18 and 26 across the nation found that 25 per cent of those asked “will you get married in future?” were not sure, while 8.9 per cent said no.

This tendency was more pronounced among women, 44 per cent of whom said that they did not think they would get married or did not want to, compared with 19 per cent among men. The study was published last week in the official Guangming Daily.

“Generation Zers, or those born in the internet era, will make up most couples in the next decade.

“Their willingness to marry deserves great attention,” wrote the researchers from the Communist Youth League led by Ju Xiaoyan.

“In recent years, we found that an increasing number of young people put off marriage or are reluctant to get married. It has become a looming threat to society as a whole.”

China is facing a major demographic challenge as the working age population, the bedrock of the economic miracle seen in the past few decades, shrinks rapidly while over-60s are expected to make up a third of the population by 2050.

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