Average Shanghai resident now marrying after the age of 30
Staff Reporter 2013-03-09 10:55
A couple in Shanghai having their wedding photos taken. (Photo/Xinhua)
The average marrying age of both men and women in Shanghai has surpassed 30, reports our Chinese-language sister paper Want Daily.
Data from the Shanghai Civil Affairs Bureau showed that the average age for marriage among local men had risen to 32.72 years in 2012, an increase of 0.32 years from the previous year, while women were marrying at an average age 30.3 years, a rise of 0.41 years from 2011.
The average age for local men and women entering their first marriage, according to the data, had also climbed to 30 years and 27.3 years, respectively.
Meanwhile, over half of the men surveyed in an online poll conducted in mid-February by Chinese match-making site Zhenai said they would term a single woman over the age of 25 as a "leftover woman." The term implies well-educated, professional women who remain unmarried.
On the other hand, the majority of women taking part in the poll set the bar higher at the age of 30 years, while a recent BBC report said that such single Chinese women are usually labeled this way after they turn 27.
Nearly 80% of the 1,452 respondents in the poll said they wanted to enter matrimony between the ages of 24 years and 30 years.
Notably, Shanghai saw fewer newly-weds in 2012, the number of which dropped 2.91% to 143,819 couples from a year earlier, while the number of uncontested divorces rose 13.16% to 43,964 couples.
A majority among the divorcees, according to the local marriage registration office, were those born in the 1970s, but the post-1980s generation was catching up as well.
Moreover, most marriages of couples from the post-1980s generation had failed during the third year, with analysts citing better economic support from parents and a lack of patience as possible reasons behind the short-lived matrimonial alliances.
