China has launched a matchmaking campaign to encourage its younger residents to marry and procreate. This comes after both marriage and birth rates have continued to dip as a result of the old one-child policy.

The Chinese government has grown increasingly concerned by data revealing lower marriage rates over the years. Data by China’s National Bureau of Statistics shows that between 2013 to 2019, the number of first-time marriages in China dropped by 41%, from 23.8-million to 13.9-million. The country’s marriage rate plummeted to 6.6 per 1,000 people in 2019, the lowest drop China has experienced in 14 years.

This decline is down to a number of reasons, although many sociologists focus on the decades of policies aimed at controlling the population, like the one-child policy, which meant that there are fewer young people in China that can actually get married.

Despite this policy being dropped in 2016, birth rates are still lower than usual. A preference for sons has also resulted in a skewed sex ratio at birth, especially in rural areas. More men than women mean that heterosexual men will struggle to find suitable brides.

This marriage decline may severely distress economic and social stability in the country, as marriage and reproduction are so closely related.

As a result, the country’s Communist Youth League will be hosting mass blind dating events to bring singletons together in the hopes they may find their life partners.

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