Written by Nicoko Chan
SHANGHAI (Reuters) – Victor Li is determined to get married soon, but like many other young Chinese grappling with an uncertain economic outlook, Victor Li is a wealthy Shanghai entrepreneur. I’m not sure if my boyfriend can afford to get married either.
“Marriage is very expensive, especially in a big city like Shanghai,” the 32-year-old said at a ticketed event for wealthy singles who graduated from prestigious universities, held at an upscale jazz venue in Shanghai. He spoke while taking a break from a networking event. bar.
“There’s actually a lot of pressure on young people, myself included, in terms of economic power.”
As the world’s second-largest economy slows, more people are choosing to remain single due to poor job prospects due to record youth unemployment and chronically low consumer confidence. This will lead to a record drop in the number of marriage registrations in 2019.
In what was once the world’s most populous country, marriage rates are closely linked to birth rates, as unwed mothers are often denied childcare, and the country is experiencing a decline in births and a rapidly growing population. Policy makers grappling with an aging population are concerned about this reluctance to marry. advantage.
China’s birth rate is currently among the lowest in the world, and official data on Wednesday showed the population is expected to decline for the second year in a row, renewing concerns about the country’s declining population.
President Xi Jinping said last year that China needed to “actively cultivate a new culture of marriage and child-rearing” to promote national development. Local governments have also announced a range of measures to encourage new families, including tax credits, housing subsidies and cash “rewards” for marriages if the bride is under 25.
Julia Meng of Julia’s Events, a company that organizes Shanghai singles events, said a number of people over 35 have effectively “given up” on marriage.
Like event participant Jack Jiang, young Chinese say they want to get married, but soaring house prices, uncertain job prospects and the general economic climate make marriage difficult.
“It’s not that I want to be single. The structure of the city and the economic situation have led to this outcome,” said the 32-year-old entrepreneur.
(Additional reporting: Xihao Jiang; Writing: Farah Master; Editing: Miral Fahmy)