Eric Huang did not return to his hometown for the Chinese New Year as tradition dictates. He was worried that his parents might pressure him into marriage, leading to unpleasant conversations.
“We often discuss marriage over the phone, so if I were to go back, I know what would happen,” said the 32-year-old Mr. Huang to the Financial Times. He mentioned that his father is displeased with him for not getting married.
“He also talks about children… not just marriage,” he added.
The number of young people in China wanting to get married is decreasing. In 2024, China’s marriage rate dropped by 20%, reaching a historical low, as young people resist the Communist government’s urging to settle down and have more children.
Data released by China’s Ministry of Civil Affairs shows that the marriage rate in China dropped from 7.7 million in 2023 to 6.1 million last year. This number is less than half of the registration figures from 2013, marking the lowest level since records began in 1986. The data also showed that in 2024, 2.6 million couples applied for divorce, an increase of 1.1% from the previous year.
For decades, the Chinese government has strictly controlled birth rates, including the one-child policy, resulting in a continuous decline in the population of China. The number of young people of marriageable age has decreased, and the birth rate has also declined.
As China grapples with population decline and aging issues, its economy faces threats. The Chinese government has started to encourage people to have more children. However, this has been met with resistance from young people due to the ongoing economic downturn, unresolved real estate crisis, challenging job market, high cost of living, escalating costs of education and childcare, making the younger generation disinterested in marriage and children.
The Financial Times reported that a 28-year-old woman, Ms. Zheng, a primary school teacher in a coastal town in Zhejiang, who only disclosed her surname, said that the competitive and rigorous education system has deterred her from having children.
“The whole educational environment is exhausting… if you have children in this environment, what can you provide them besides suffering?” she said.
Ms. Zheng mentioned that she has blocked most of her friends who post photos of their children on WeChat. “I am satisfied with my current lifestyle,” she said. “I have a group of like-minded unmarried friends to hang out with.”
Mr. Wu, a 32-year-old editor from Beijing who also requested anonymity, told the Financial Times that he is open-minded about marriage but “strongly against” having children. His opposition stems not only from the high cost of having children in Beijing but also from his “discontent with society.”
“We, as a generation (many of us are only children), tend to focus on individuality,” he said.
Data also highlights a significant shift in attitudes towards marriage over the past few generations. In 2000, an estimated 0.19% of Chinese women over 50 were unmarried; by 2020, this figure had risen to 0.44%. During the same period, the proportion of unmarried women aged 25 to 29 increased from 8.7% to 33.2%.
After the release of data showing a sharp drop in the marriage rate last year, there have been many discussions on social media. “It’s not that people don’t want to get married, but they can’t afford it!” a netizen from Changzhou wrote on Weibo.
“For many young people, not getting married is a proactive choice. At the same time, having their own lifestyle and enjoying single life is also an important reason,” another commenter on Weibo said.
“The sharp drop in the marriage rate reflects the integration of social factors: a decrease in the young population, dismal economic prospects for recent graduates, changes in attitudes towards marriage, and increasing gender disparities,” Carl Minzner, a senior researcher on China issues at the US think tank Foreign Relations Committee, told The Guardian.
For Mr. Huang, who spent the New Year with friends in Shanghai, the holiday period is particularly painful. His father believes that marriage is a responsibility, “just like in any traditional family.”
“I understand their thoughts, but I don’t want to listen to them,” he said. “I don’t want to change their minds. So, I can only avoid it.”