The latest official data from the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) shows that marriage registrations in the first half of this year have dropped to 3.275 million couples, hitting a historical low for the same period. Meanwhile, divorce registrations have increased to 1.383 million couples, with 761,000 couples divorcing in the second quarter alone, marking a new high since the implementation of the “cooling-off period for divorce” in China in 2021.
In statistics released by the CCP Ministry of Civil Affairs website on August 12th, it was revealed that in the first half of this year, there were 32.75 million marriage registrations and 13.83 million divorce registrations nationwide. Compared to the numbers announced at the end of July last year for the first half of 2025 – 35.39 million marriage registrations and 13.31 million divorce registrations – there was a decrease of 264,000 marriages, a decrease of about 7.5%, and an increase of 52,000 divorces, representing a rise of approximately 4%.
Especially in the second quarter of this year, there is a significant “scissors difference” in marriage data: with 1.578 million marriage registrations in the second quarter, there was a 7.0% decrease quarterly and an 8.7% decrease annually, showing a consecutive two-quarter decline with an expanding margin. In contrast, the second quarter saw 761,000 divorce registrations, marking a 22.3% quarterly increase and an 8.6% increase annually, reaching a single season high since the implementation of the “cooling-off period for divorce” in 2021.
Between the decrease in marriages and the increase in divorces in the first half of this year, the “divorce-to-marriage ratio” reached 42.2%, meaning that for every 100 couples getting married, 42 couples were getting divorced simultaneously, approaching the historical peak of 43.7% in 2019.
Looking at the long-term trend, the number of marriage registrations nationwide has been declining annually since 2014. It dropped below 10 million couples in 2019, fell below 8 million couples in 2021, dipped to 6.835 million couples in 2022, below 7 million couples, rebounded to 7.68 million couples in 2023, and was 6.763 million couples in 2025, almost halved compared to the peak.
The WeChat public account “DataGO” stated that the shrinking population of marriageable individuals indicates an irreversible downward trend in the marriage rate.
According to the data from the seventh national census, the number of marriageable individuals aged 20 to 34 in China has decreased from 320 million in 2013 to 240 million in 2024, a decrease of 80 million in 11 years. Moreover, in the next 10 years, this number is expected to decline even faster – the population born in 1996 has dropped below 20 million, and as of 2023, there were only 9.02 million.
The number of divorces in China has also increased significantly. In 2008, there were 1.55 million divorce registrations nationwide, with a divorce-to-marriage ratio of 14.8%, meaning that for every 7 couples getting married, 1 couple was getting divorced. By 2019, the number of divorces soared to 4.04 million couples, with a divorce-to-marriage ratio of 43.7%, that is, for every 2.3 couples getting married, 1 couple was getting divorced.
The article points out that until the implementation of the “cooling-off period for divorce” in 2021, the number of divorces dropped to 2.14 million couples that year, a 47% decrease from the previous year. However, looking at the data from the past five years from 2021 to 2025, the number of divorces were 2.14 million, 2.1 million, 2.59 million, 2.62 million, and 2.74 million couples respectively, indicating that the “cooling-off period” effect is rapidly diminishing.