“As the pandemic gradually ends, the wedding industry has rebounded significantly, and there was a hot wave of consumption during the 2023 Mid-Autumn Festival and National Day holidays,” He said in a blog post on Saturday, referring to a spike in spending during the eight-day holiday break in September and October last year.
Wedding-related spending on gold jewellery remains strong, according to a white paper this month by China Wedding Expo about industry trends. However, overall spending on wedding banquets dropped by 10 to 15 per cent year over year in 2023, it said.
Marriage rates had been on the decline in China since 2013, when the number of new registrations hit an all-time high of 13.47 million.
China’s efforts to stamp out betrothal gifts may be aiming at wrong traditions
China’s efforts to stamp out betrothal gifts may be aiming at wrong traditions
The average age at first marriage in 2010 was 25.75 years old for men and 24 for women. In 2020, that rose to 29.38 years old for men and 27.95 for women.
The official data also showed that 2.59 million couples registered for uncontested divorces in 2023, up from 2.1 million the year before.
In 2022, there were an additional 779,000 contested divorces – those which must be handled by the courts because one spouse objects. That year there was a total of 2.879 million divorce proceedings, up 1.4 per cent from 2021.
The ministry has yet to release the number of contested divorces adjudicated or mediated by the courts in 2023.