In China, the topics of “leftover men” and “leftover women” have always been hotly debated. However, behind these two phenomena, it is not merely a matter of individual choices or having “high standards.” Demographers point out that “leftover women” are just surface manifestations, while the crisis of “leftover men” created by inhumane policies imposed by the Chinese Communist Party is the deeper societal truth. This nationwide marriage crisis is essentially a result of the long-term implementation of household registration policies and the one-child policy by the CCP, leading to dual collapses in population structure and social ethics.
One financial commentator, writing on October 16th, highlighted that in Shanghai alone, there are over 2 million unmarried women. Industry insiders believe that many of these women are deemed to have “high standards,” seeking to find local men with better qualifications. However, the scarcity of high-quality local men ultimately leads them to remain single.
In fact, these women generally have high education levels, stable incomes, and independent personalities. Their existence is not unique to Shanghai, as similar trends are observed in big cities like Beijing, Shenzhen, and Guangzhou.
The term “leftover women” first appeared on the cover of a 2006 issue of “Modern Cosmo” magazine, referring to women who have passed the ideal marriage age but remain unmarried.
Since 2007, this term has been included in the Chinese Language Life Report issued by the Ministry of Education of the CCP, defining “leftover women” as those with high education levels and income, aged over 27, yet unable to find an ideal marital partner.
How many “leftover women” are there in China?
The CCP mouthpiece “People’s Daily” once cited a conservative estimate from a dating website, suggesting nearly 100 million leftover women nationwide, with more in first-tier cities.
Superficially, the primary reason for the existence of “leftover women” in Shanghai seems to be their “high standards,” but in reality, this is just a reflection of institutional pressures.
1. The Policy Barrier of Household Registration
The CCP’s household registration system tightly links core resources like healthcare, education, and retirement benefits to “local identity.” For women, seeking a partner with local residence is a rational defense to ensure basic social security for their offspring, rather than a materialistic choice.
2. Resource Imbalance and Marriage Market Disparities
Despite high income and educational qualifications, outstanding men from other regions are excluded from the marriage market due to lack of urban resources granted by policies. This scarcity of men who meet both “local” and “high-quality” criteria results in a large number of women being “left behind.”
According to a 2025 survey by the Shanghai Women’s Federation, the number of unmarried women has exceeded 2 million, a 70% increase from 2015. Among women aged 25 to 34, 40% are single. This data reflects structural mismatches rather than individual issues.
In a small interview at the Jing’an District Community Service Center in Shanghai, 30-year-old designer Zhang Yue voiced the sentiments of many young women. She shared her doubts about traditional gender roles based on her mother’s household duties and her father’s limited involvement. “My mom handles household chores daily while my dad rarely participates; I don’t want to replicate this pattern.” This mindset is representative among women born in the 1990s and 2000s.
For them, marriage is no longer a necessity for survival but rather a choice for equality and spiritual harmony. Economic independence has raised women’s expectations for marriage, desiring genuine mutual support and respect.
A 2025 survey by a Shanghai dating platform revealed that 62% of men are willing to share household chores with their wives, a 38-percentage-point increase from 2015, indicating changing gender roles within families.
Compared to the proactive choices and high demands of urban “leftover women,” the issue of “leftover men” is an irreversible disastrous consequence of the CCP’s social engineering policies.
“Leftover men” are men over the ideal marriage age (usually over 30) who remain unmarried.
Starting in the early 1980s, the CCP implemented the “basic national policy” of restricting population growth and advocating for the “one-child policy.” This led to a large number of illegal sex-selective abortions. In rural areas of mainland China, some used ultrasound to determine fetal gender, opting for abortion if it was a girl.
The one-child policy resulted in a severe gender imbalance in China. Between 1980 and 2010, there were approximately 36 million more males than females in China.
According to the 2010 Sixth National Population Census, the national gender ratio at birth was 118:100, significantly higher than the normal value. For the post-80s generation, the male-to-female ratio of unmarried individuals was 136:100, rising to 206:100 for those born in the ’70s, with increasing severity with age.
Demographer Li Jianxin pointed out that since the 1980s, China’s gender ratio at birth has consistently been above 115 or even 120, straying far from the natural balance and causing a severe imbalance in the marriage market.
Back in 2020, Professor Passden from Texas A&M University warned that 45 to 50 million Chinese men would never find spouses.
Reggie Littlejohn, founder of “Women’s Rights Without Frontiers,” also stated that the primary cause is the CCP’s three-decade-long one-child policy, leading to the disappearance of at least 37 million women and severely disrupting the natural balance of the population.
The “more men, fewer women” societal scenario poses significant obstacles to population reproduction, resulting in severe population decline. As population reproduction primarily relies on women, the dwindling proportion of females in the population inevitably reduces reproduction capabilities.
The United Nations predicts that if the fertility rate remains below 1.5 for an extended period, a century later, China’s population will drop to 500 million, with the proportion of the population over 65 exceeding 40%.
According to Dr. Liang Jianzhang, an economics Ph.D. from Stanford University, China’s drastic alteration of its population structure is “unprecedented in world history,” serving as a warning example in global demographics.
“Leftover women” and “leftover men” may seem like the outcomes of individual choices, but they are actually products of systemic oppression and population engineering. The former reflects women’s pursuit of equality and dignity, while the latter reveals the social gender disaster caused by the one-child policy. Whether it’s the determined independence of urban women or the powerless struggles of men at the bottom, they all point to the same fact – the long-term suppression of humanity and freedom by the CCP is leading this society towards a structural collapse.