The Silent Demographic Disaster: What’s Behind China’s Falling Marriages?

hi I'm dong Shan welcome to digu China where we explore China in depth to review unique perspectives today we will discuss a fascinating topic why are Chinese people no longer getting married according to data released by the ministry of civil Affairs the number of marriages in China has been declining year after year with an increasingly dismal Outlook in 2013 the number of marriages reached a peak of 13 points .47 million pairs however after that it took a sharp downturn by 2022 the last year of the covid-19 lockdowns the number had a dropped to 6.83 million pairs there was a brief Rebound in 20123 due to a backlog of L struck individuals who had been accumulating over the previous three years of lockdowns they rushed to get married in 2023 temporarily boosting the annual number to 7.68 million pairs but once this patch of romantic idealists had married off there were no new reinforcements in reality most normal Chinese people have no desire to get married at all by 2024 the number of marriages began to plummet again dropping to 6.11 million pairs a staggering annual decline of 20.4% this is an president at the rate of decline creating a new historical record in peace time a 20% drop in marriages within a single year is no longer a natural demographic phenomenon but a fullblown social disaster centuries from now when people look at these statistics they will likely assume that China in 2024 suffered some catastrophic humanitarian crisis such as war or famine it would never occur to them that in the same year China's national Bureau of Statistics claimed the country's GDP grew by 5% and that the government's policy reports depict a prosperous and a stable Society there was not even a hint of an acknowledged social disaster with the sharp decline in marriages birth rates have inevitably followed the suit for newly WS the first major event after marriage is usually having children otherwise what's the point of getting married in the first place now that people are not getting married and the number of marriages is plummeting it is inevitable that the birth rate will also experience a drastic decline notably birth statistics are hard to manipulate today electronic ID cards issued by the public Security Bureau have been fully implemented Nationwide even in the most remote corners of the Tibetan Plateau every individual possesses an electronic ID the number of undocumented individuals without ID is now negligible making their statistical impact insignificant this means that the minister of public security can with the click of a button obtain precise national population data including detailed records of each individual's education level occupation and a monthly income under these circumstances large scale population sampling surveys and sensors conducted by the National Bureau of Statistics have lost their significance the bureau had tried every possible means to obscure the DraStic drop in newborns to the extent that its annually reported birth numbers have long been significantly higher than the public security bureau's figures for registered newborns logically the data from the public security Bureau is far more credible however for the sake of discussion we will use the National Bureau of Statistics data as even with all its manipulation it still cannot hide a sharp decline in birth according to statistical reports over the years China's birth rate reached a peak of 18.03 Million in 2016 precisely 3 years of the peak in marriages in 20130 since then as marriages plumet the birth numbers also saw a dramatic decline falling to 9.02 Million by 2023 cut by half compared to the peak in 2013 a 50% drop in births over just 7 years is undoubtedly a historical achievement for the Chinese government as with marriage data future Generations looking at these figures will likely conclude that China suffered a devastating Nationwide catastrophe during this period they would never believe that this was an ERA the Chinese government Hil as an unprecedented golden age in 2024 the National Bureau of Statistics claimed that the birth rate saw a brief rebound reaching 9.55 million newborns an increase of 520,000 from 2023 this trend aligns with marriage statistics in 2023 there was a surge of accumul The Love Struck individuals who rushed into marriage and immediately conceived by 2024 they gave birth to their babies believing that having a child in a year of dragon would bring Good Fortune however this was a one-time effect by 2024 the number of marriages experienced an unprecedented freefall meaning that the birth numbers will undoubtedly NOS dive after 2025 at the same time those born in the 1980s the last significant demographic group capable of having second or third children have now mostly crossed age of 40 they are increasingly unable to conceive the responsibility for child birth has now entirely shifted to those Bor in the 1990s and the 2000s if young people refuse to get married or have children the birth rate will continue to plummet no matter how desperately the National Bureau of Statistics manipulates the numbers births will likely drop to around 8 million in 2025 and uh fall further to 7 million in 2026 meanwhile China has already fully entered an aging Society additionally with the National Health Care Security Administration pushing people to consume substandard medications and ineffective traditional Chinese medicine mortality rates will inevitably rise as a result China's total population will shrink rapidly over the past 3 years China's annual population decline has averaged around 2 million by 2026 the annual population reduction could surpass 6 million the equivalent of wiping out an entire medium-sized City the key question is why are young people today refusing to getting married and have children here we can explore both societal social Psy pychology and economic factors from a social psychology perspective when people anticipate a disastrous future they naturally stop marrying and reproducing to conserve resources and prepare for uncertainty this behavior is not unique to humans it also occurs in Animal Kingdom for example when African animals face prolonged drought they stop mating cold they are young and weak and allocate limited resources to the strongest individuals to endure the harsh conditions similarly young Chinese people halting marriage and reproduction reflects a collective instinct to prepare for an impending crisis although only a small fraction of China's 1.4 billion people fully understand the government's intentional economic suppression policies and even fewer grasp the concept of social repression most people intuitively sense that the country is heading toward a severe societal disaster bringing a new life into this environment is an unbearable risk so they choose to remain single and a childless living with no attachment economy is the reasoning is even more compelling the younger generation can barely support themselves let alone the Next Generation according to Julian Jain annual graduate employment report in 2019 the year before covid lockdown the average monthly salary for college graduates was 5,331 Y at that income level even renting an apartment two hours away from work cost at least 1,000 y with another 1,000 yen spent on Transportation 2,000 Yen on food and 1,000 yen on utilities and phone bills this left nothing for dating or marriage buying clothes or Cosmetics required asking parents for money making it impossible to afford a wedding let alone raising a child since 2019 young people's economic situation has worsen the government even stopped releasing youth unemployment data after June 2023 when it hit 21.3% later the National Bureau of Statistics fabricated new employment data claiming that by the end of 2024 the youth unemployment rate was just 15.7 % a figure achieved by counting anyone who live streamed for two hours a week as fully employed in summary young Chinese people rejecting marriage and child birth is a natural consequences of both economic hardship and a subconscious response to a looming crisis the once child loving Chinese population is now voluntarily heading towards self-extinction a historical achievements of China's government it remains uncertain whether Any Nation will follow suit but it is certainly an unprecedented phenomenon thank you so much for watching if you find this video helpful please like it drop a comment below and hit the Subscribe button right here it really helps YouTube suggest my videos to others I'll be back with more content soon until then be well