China Marriages Dive to Record Low as Population Pressures Mount
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China’s new marriages plunged to the lowest level on record last year, a sign of shifting demographic trends as people age and delay their plans to start a family.
Some 7.6 million marriages were registered in 2021, according to figures recently released by the Ministry of Civil Affairs. That is the lowest dating back to 1985, the earliest year for which the National Bureau of Statistics has published records. The crude marriage rate -- or the number of marriages per 1,000 people -- dropped to 5.4, also a fresh low and nearly halving the rate from a decade ago.