China Faces Demographic Challenges as Marriages Drop 25% in Q3 2024

Nov 3, 2024, 05:30 AM

China is experiencing a significant decline in marriage and fertility rates, which is expected to have profound demographic and economic impacts. Marriages in China fell by 16.6% year-on-year in the first three quarters of 2024, with a 25.3% drop in the third quarter alone. In the first three quarters of 2024, 4.747 million couples tied the knot, down by 943,000 couples from the same period in 2023. If this trend continues, the total number of marriages for the year could decrease by 18.8%. This decline in marriages is closely linked to a projected sharp decrease in births, with early indicators suggesting China's fertility rate could drop from the already low level of 1.0 births per woman. The Chinese population has contracted for the second consecutive year, shrinking by 2.1 million people in 2023. Since 2016, the number of births has fallen by approximately 50% to 9 million.