Chinese marriages hit record low in 2024 as childcare costs remain high

The number of marriages in China fell by a fifth last year, the largest decline ever recorded, despite many attempts by officials to encourage young people to marry and have children to help with the country’s falling population.

Young people are less interested in marriage and starting families because raising and educating children in China is very expensive. The slow economy in recent years has also made it hard for university graduates to find jobs, and those who are employed worry about their future job security.

According to government figures, just over 6.1 million couples got married last year, down from 7.68 million the year before.

“Unprecedented. Even in 2020, due to Covid-2019, marriages only decreased by 12.2%,” said Yi Fuxian, who studies population trends at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

He pointed out that marriages in China last year were less than half of the 13.47 million recorded in 2013.

If this continues, he said, “the Chinese government’s political and economic ambitions will be ruined by its demographic achilles heel”.

Chinese officials are very worried about getting people interested in marriage and having families again.

China has the world’s second-largest population at 1.4 billion, but its elderly population is growing faster than any other country’s.

Read Also: China files complaint with WTO against U.S. tariffs

Birth rates have been falling for decades because of China’s one-child rule from 1980 to 2015 and more people moving to cities. In the next ten years, about 300 million Chinese people – nearly as many as the entire US population – are expected to retire.

Last year, officials tried to solve this by asking colleges to teach students about the importance of marriage, love, having children and family life.

In November, China’s government also told local authorities to use their resources to fix the population crisis and encourage people to have children and marry at “the right age”.

There was a small rise in births last year after fewer during the pandemic, partly because 2024 was the Year of the Dragon in Chinese tradition, considered lucky for babies born that year.

But even with more births, China’s population fell for the third year in a row.

The figures also showed that more than 2.6 million couples divorced last year, up 1.1% from 2023.