Some wealthier Chinese say they can't afford marriage as economy slows ( www.reuters.com )

Cross-posted from: https://beehaw.org/post/11100201

As the world's second biggest economy slows, an increasing number of people are opting to stay single due to poor job prospects amid record youth unemployment and chronically low consumer confidence, leading to a record slump in marriage registrations in 2022.

DrRatso ,

I did not fully get from the article what exactly it is that makes marriage too expensive? Surely getting a marriage certificate is not prohibitively expensive? And shared / dual income would make it easier to stay on top of finances..

Sina ,

In order for a man to marry they need to own their own home & have a decent car.
This is the societal norm in today's China, without these things the women's parents will not approve & they are still a confucianist society to a point, so eloping is quite rare.
Now in Shanghai the home owning part is not so easy :-) Though the article is not great, because the "wealthy" part doesn't make much sense.
(wealth starts with owning a large home, while driving a "Benz")

avidamoeba , (edited )
@avidamoeba@lemmy.ca avatar

This reluctance to tie the knot is worrying policymakers grappling with a decline in births and a rapidly aging population in a country that was once the world's most populous, and where marriage rates are closely tied to birth rates as unmarried mothers are often denied child-raising benefits.

I heard the CCP wanted birth rates to climb. That's not how you do it. The slowing economy doesn't have to have this effect on young people. The Chinese government has a much stronger ability to manage these effects than democratic free market economies. I hope they would manage to use that.

acockworkorange ,

If they were that smart, they wouldn't need to be autocratic.

avidamoeba ,
@avidamoeba@lemmy.ca avatar

Hahaha, good point. At least not that autocratic.

Rozz ,

Do people still live together unmarried?

What happens if people have children a license/approval?

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