Marriage rate falls, divorce soars

The decline of the country’s marriage rate is accompanied by a rise in the age of marriage, which is partly due to the fact that more and more young people have received a higher education and are less willing to get married in their early twenties. In addition, as young people from third- or fourth-tier cities flood into major metropolises where life pressure, both financially and mentally, is much higher, they tend to delay marriage when they are uncertain about their future. Among divorced couples in 2016, young couples were in the majority, and, according to an article by Caijing (in Chinese), are inclined to end their marriages without much deliberate consideration.

On the social media platform Weibo, some commenters reflected on young people’s shifting attitude toward marriage. “In the old days, when something was broken, people would find various ways to repair it. But now, they are looking for something new even though what they have is still working,” one person wrote (in Chinese).