China ends 9-year decline in new marriages in 2023, but divorces also climb

The country registers 7.68 million newlywed couples, up 845,000 from the previous year in what analysts say is sign of post-pandemic wedding rebound

The data comes amid concerns about the country’s plunging birth rate and worries that its 1.4 billion population could be ageing faster than expected

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To boost birth rates and encourage marriage, Chinese authorities have offered incentives to encourage couples to have bigger families. Photo: AFP

Published: 6:00pm, 17 Mar 2024Updated: 9:17am, 18 Mar 2024

China ended a nine-year streak of declining marriage registrations last year, with the number of newlywed couples rising to 7.68 million, according to data released by the Ministry of Civil Affairs on Friday.

This was an increase of 845,000 unions compared to the number registered in 2022.

He Yafu, an independent demographer, said a key reason for the rebound in registrations last year was that many young people had to delay marriage because of the Covid-19 pandemic.

“As the pandemic gradually ends, the wedding industry has rebounded significantly, and there was a hot wave of consumption during the 2023 Mid-Autumn Festival and National Day holidays,” He said in a blog post on Saturday, referring to a spike in spending during the eight-day holiday break in September and October last year.

Wedding-related spending on gold jewellery remains strong, according to a white paper this month by China Wedding Expo about industry trends.

However, overall spending on wedding banquets dropped by 10 to 15 per cent year over year in 2023, it said.

Marriage rates had been on the decline in China since 2013, when the number of new registrations hit an all-time high of 13.47 million.