In recent years, China has been facing a population crisis, with the acceleration of aging population and skyrocketing unemployment rates due to the economic downturn, many young people are choosing not to marry and have children. In the first quarter of this year, there were 1.81 million registered marriages nationwide, a decrease of 159,000 compared to the same period last year, while the number of divorces increased by 57,000 couples.
According to the statistics released on April 25 by the Chinese Ministry of Civil Affairs for the first quarter of 2025, there were 1.81 million registered marriages and 630,000 divorces nationwide in China. The number of registered marriages further declined compared to the first quarter of 2024.
Looking at the annual statistical data, as reported by The Paper earlier, the number of registered marriages in 2024 dropped to 6.106 million nationwide, marking the largest decline since records began in 1978.
Chinese Premier Li Keqiang proposed in this year’s government work report during the “Two Sessions” that policies promoting childbirth and providing childcare subsidies should be implemented. Recently, various regions have successively introduced new so-called “improved fertility” policies. For example, in Hohhot, Inner Mongolia, the fertility subsidy has been significantly increased, with a subsidy of 100,000 RMB available for the birth of the third child; Ningxia has extended marriage leave from 10 to 13 days, increased maternity leave to 60 days, and parents of infants and young children aged 0 to 3 can enjoy 10 days of childcare leave.
On the eve of the upcoming May Day holiday, in Wuhan’s Yangzi Street, which used to be bustling with wedding celebrations, the streets are now deserted and quiet. Videos circulating on social media platforms show that many shops in the Yangzi Street wedding building have closed, with “for rent” advertisements plastered on their glass doors.
A Wuhan resident, Ms. Peng, described Yangzi Street in a recent interview with Radio Free Asia: “Yangzi Street is located on Jianghan Road, a pedestrian street in Wuhan. There is a junction on the pedestrian street where you can turn left or right, and both sides are filled with wedding-related shops, but now it’s desolate. No one is getting married now because who can afford it? People can’t even find temporary jobs now, and they can’t afford to raise children. If you ask where there are more people, it’s in hospitals, there are a lot of people seeking medical treatment, and even entering the hospital requires security checks.”
Mr. Wang, a resident of Pudong, Shanghai, previously told Epoch Times that his two children are both in their thirties, the eldest is married, and the younger one has a partner. “Neither of them wants to have children. Not just them, almost all young people, I can’t say 100%, but let’s say three out of four young people don’t want to have children because they see no hope for the future.”
Associate Professor Feng Chongyi from the University of Technology Sydney mentioned that the Chinese Communist Party has carried out a one-child policy for about thirty years, forcing families to have only one child. Particularly, women are encouraged to undergo abortion even when several months pregnant, which has caused serious damage to one or two generations and led to a significant reduction in the Chinese population base.
Feng Chongyi stated that life is extremely difficult for many young people in China currently, grappling with the so-called “three major pressures” of education, housing, and healthcare. Especially, after the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic lockdown, they believe that mainland China does not offer a life of freedom, so bringing a child into this world is considered a criminal act. Many people, even if they are capable, choose not to have children, exacerbating the downward trend in birth rates.