In 2021, approximately 7.6 million couples registered marriages in China, the lowest number over the past 36 years according to the latest data released by the China’s Civil Affairs Bureau. China, the world’s most populous country, has seen the number of marriage registrations decline every year since 2013, foreshadowing potential demographic problems. The number of marriages registered in China peaked at about 13.5 million couples in 2013, and decreased every year since then, falling below 10 million in 2019 to 7.6 million this year, the lowest since the Ministry of Civil Affairs’ official website started publishing data in 1986. Regarding why more Chinese people are opting to not get married or marry without having children, Li Yuanhua, former Beijing Normal University professor, told The Epoch Times that the major causes are “rising costs of child birthing, growing and educating a child, as well as a variety of life pressures in China. …