"Marriage is Greed" 'Gonghonjok' Also Affects Birth Rates... "Facing Economic Collapse Crisis"

Number of Marriage Registrations in China Declines for 9 Consecutive Years
"Marriage Is Overambition" - Employment Difficulties Lead to Marriage Abandonment
Total Fertility Rate Forecasted at 1.09, Lowest Ever Recorded

As the phenomenon of marriage avoidance among Chinese youth accelerates, the number of marriage registrations in China last year has been found to have halved compared to 10 years ago.

According to the Chinese Ministry of Civil Affairs on the 16th, 6.835 million couples registered their marriage in China in 2022. This figure represents a 10.6% decrease from the previous year and has dropped to about half compared to 13.469 million cases in 2013, 10 years ago.

The number of marriage registrations in China has been declining for nine consecutive years. Over the past three years, the figures were ▲9.273 million in 2019 (an 8.5% decrease from the previous year), ▲8.143 million in 2020 (a 12.2% decrease), and ▲7.643 million in 2021 (a 6.1% decrease).

A notable point is the trend of late marriage (delaying the age of marriage). Among the population registering marriages in 2022, those aged 20?24 accounted for 15.2%. Compared to 37.6% in 2010, there is a clear decline in marriages among those under 24 years old.

On the other hand, the number of marriage registrations among the 30?34 and 35?39 age groups increased by 9.4 percentage points and 2.5 percentage points respectively during the same period. Chinese economic media Caijing analyzed this by stating, "Last year, the COVID-19 pandemic and ongoing prevention measures delayed marriages."

However, the prevailing view is that ongoing employment difficulties have led young people to give up on marriage. There are also observations that the number of 'gonghonzok'?people who fear marriage?is increasing.

In fact, on Chinese social networking services (SNS), responses such as "Economic pressure is severe, raising children is stressful, I don't want to bear family responsibilities, and I want to enjoy freedom alone," and "Marriage is a kind of overambition" have been appearing.

The decline in marriages has naturally affected the birth rate as well. Experts have analyzed that China's total fertility rate last year fell to a record low of 1.09. This contrasts with 1978, when the 'one-child policy' was introduced to curb the rapid population growth. Recently, there have been calls to lower the legal marriage age (22 for men, 20 for women).

Peter Zeihan, a U.S. geopolitical analyst and demography expert, predicted in March that "China is experiencing an unprecedented demographic crisis in its history" and warned that "within 10 years, it will face an economic collapse crisis due to population decline."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.