(Yicai) Feb. 19 -- The number of marriages registered in several regions of China rebounded last year after plunging to a new record low in 2022 since the country began recording the figure in 1986.

Over 453,850 marriage registrations were handled in Jiangsu province last year, up 10.1 percent from the year before, according to data released by the civil affairs department of the eastern Chinese province. The figure fell for three consecutive years between 2019 and 2022.

Nearly 21,180 marriages were registered in Huaibei, eastern Anhui province, last year, up 92 percent from the previous year, according to the local civil affairs bureau.

The number of marriages registered in Liuyang, central Hunan province, jumped by 458 to 5,443 in the period, reversing a decline that started in 2015, Liuyang Daily reported last month.

Last year was a year of economic recovery and development after the pandemic, so the demand for marriages postponed during Covid was released, said Zhang Jian, director of the Marriage Registration Center of the Liuyang Civil Affairs Bureau. Moreover, the implementation of policies to encourage marriage and childbirth stimulated couples’ enthusiasm to get married, Zhang noted.

A total of 6.8 million couples got married in China in 2022, down 10.6 percent from the previous year and 49.6 percent from the peak of 13.5 million in 2013, according to data from the Ministry of Civil Affairs. The figure rose about 4.5 percent in the first three quarters of last year from a year earlier.

In 2022, especially in the year’s last quarter, many couples postponed their marriages to 2023 because of the impact of Covid-19, which directly led to an increase in marriage registrations last year, Dong Yuzheng, a population expert and special researcher at Guangdong’s provincial government, told Yicai.

However, it is yet to be seen whether the number of marriages in China will continue to grow in the future because of the decrease in marriageable people, the postponement of the age at first marriage, changes in the concept of marriage and childbearing, and other factors, Dong noted.

Even if an increase in the number of marriages usually leads to more births, young people may not be ready to have children immediately after getting married or may not want to have children at all, Dong added.

Editor: Futura Costaglione