Phenomenon of marrying later spread from urban Chinese young population to those in rural areas: demographic statistics

China’s latest demographic statistics show that the phenomenon of marrying later has spread from urban areas to rural areas, with unmarried rate among young people aged 30 in cities reaching 30.7 percent and the unmarried rate of rural young people aged between 20 and 34 reaching 19.3 percent. Experts attributed this phenomenon to multiple reasons such as the prolonged schooling years, rich spiritual and cultural life, and the imbalance of sex ratio of marriageable population.

According to the data released by the China Population and Employment Statistical Yearbook 2023, more than half of the Chinese population in urban cities between the ages of 25 and 29 remained unmarried in 2022, with the proportion reaching as high as 56.9 percent. Besides, the unmarried rate among the urban young people aged between 30 and 34 reached 20 percent. In particular, 30.7 percent of urban young people aged 30 remained unmarried in 2022, yicai.com reported on Wednesday.

In terms of the unmarried rates among urban young people in other age groups, 8.3 percent of young people aged between 35 and 39 remained unmarried, 10.3 percent of young people aged 35 remained unmarried, 4.5 percent of young people aged between 40 and 44 remained unmarried and 2.6 percent of people aged between 45 and 49 remained unmarried.

Statistics of unmarried young people in townships across the country show that 44.6 percent of young people aged between 25 and 29 remained unmarried in 2022. The unmarried rate of young people aged between 30 and 34 remained 14.1 percent, and the unmarried rate of people aged between 35 and 39 remained 5.9 percent. Besides, 2.9 percent people aged between 40 and 44 remained unmarried and 1.9 percent of people aged between 45 and 49 remained unmarried.

According to the statistics on the unmarried people in rural areas in 2022, 47.4 percent of rural young people aged between 25 and 29 remained unmarried. Unmarried rate of young people aged between 20 and 34 reached 19.3 percent, and the unmarried rate of young people aged between 35 and 39 reached 9.4 percent. Besides, 5.6 percent of people aged 40 to 44 and 3.9 percent of people aged 45 to 49 remained unmarried. It is noteworthy that unmarried rates of people aged 50 and above exceeded 2 percent.

The statistics show that the unmarried rates among urban populations in the age groups of 25-29 and 30-34 remained higher than those in towns and rural areas, while the unmarried rate among urban people aged 55 and above remained lower than those in towns and rural areas.

Ding Changfa, associate professor of the economics from Xiamen University, said a considerable portion of urban young people have longer years of education and put off the time when they enter the workforce, and therefore marry later.

Meanwhile, the cities, especially metropolises, offer such a variety of cultural and recreational activities that young people tend to be more independent, which significantly influences their marriage rates and marriage ages.

Besides, the higher costs of living in large cities also lead to significant economic pressure on young people, who have to put off their marriage.

The statistics also show that unmarried rate of 47.4 percent among young rural people aged between 25 and 29 was higher than that of the young people in townships but was much lower than that of 56.9 percent in the cities.

In the age group of 30-40, unmarried rate of rural young people was lower than that in the city, while in the age group of 35 years old and above, unmarried rate of rural young people was higher than that in the cities and townships. In the age of 50 and above, unmarried rate of people exceeded 2 percent, which experts think is related to the imbalanced sex ratio of marriageable population in rural areas.

Dong Yuzheng, a Guangdong-based demographer, explained that many migrant women from rural areas who work in cities do not return to their hometowns but become permanent residents in the cities, and some of them get married and have children there.

The data released by China’s Ministry of Civil Affairs show that throughout 2022, the number of registered marriages decreased by 10.6 percent, and the marriage rate also declined by 0.6 per thousand points. After reaching its peak in 2013, the number of registered marriages has been decreasing for nine consecutive years. In 2022, it fell below the significant threshold of 7 million couples.