China’s marriage rate plummets to 44-year low

The country recorded its lowest number of new marriages in decades last year, the pro-Beijing South China Morning Post reported on Monday. Only 6.1 million couples tied the knot in 2024—a more than 20 percent drop from the year before, and the lowest number recorded since 1980—the outlet reported. More than 2.8 million couples also got divorced in China in 2024—a more than 1% increase from the year before.

What about birth rates? The number of births in China ticked up slightly to 9.54 million in 2024, up from 9.02 million in 2023, the South China Morning Post reported. But that is attributed in part to superstitions surrounding 2024 being the Year of the Dragon, according to the Chinese Zodiac calendar.

The Year of the Dragon occurs every 12 years on the Chinese lunar calendar and babies born in those years are believed to possess strength, power, and ambition. Experts attribute the spike in birth rates in China last year to parents hoping to have a child with those characteristics, the South China Morning Post reported. Birth rates are expected to trend downward again in 2025, the Post reported.

Dig deeper: Read Bekah McCallum’s report in World Tour about China raising its retirement age to prevent more workers from phasing out of its workforce.