Greater efforts should be made to improve systems and policies that support marriage in order to make life easier for families and encourage young people to wed, researchers have said.

The call came after Guangdong released its marriage registrations list for the first half of the year. According to the Department of Civil Affairs of Guangdong Province, Guangdong registered 288,000 marriages during the period, down from 292,000 marriages a year earlier.

While the province is home to 11.7 percent of China’s population aged from 20 to 39, its marriage registrations account for only 8.8 percent of the nation’s total.

Shenzhen led cities in the province with 57,181 marriage registrations, followed by Guangzhou at 52,435. The number of marriage registrations in Dongguan and Foshan also surpassed 20,000.

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“The Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area boasts abundant job opportunities and a concentrated marriage age population, creating favorable conditions for people to form romantic relationships. However, employment pressures, high living costs and population mobility make them more prudent when making relationship-related decisions,” said Huang Rui, director of the Institute of Regional Development Planning at China Development Institute, a Shenzhen-based think tank.

A researcher in the talent development research center at the Guangdong Academy of Social Sciences, who preferred to be anonymous, said the decline in marriage registrations “should not simply be interpreted as young people losing interest in marriage. It reflects a combination of demographic changes, delayed marriage age and evolving social attitudes.”

Young people, with higher educational levels and improved incomes, have become less dependent on their families and attach greater importance to personal will when considering marriage. Meanwhile, high housing and living costs, coupled with employment pressure in big cities, means young people need more time to build their careers and prepare for family life, they said.

“Actually, we are not rejecting marriage itself. Rather, we are seeking greater stability in employment, housing and future family life before making such a decision,” a Shenzhen-based software engineer in his late 20s, who asked not to be identified, said. “We talk more about emotional readiness and financial security first.”

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Local governments have launched a range of measures to reduce practical barriers and strengthen people’s confidence in starting a family.

In Guangzhou’s Baiyun district, authorities have shifted the focus from one-off incentives to long-term support by developing a full-cycle marriage service system that covers matchmaking activities, marriage registration, cultural activities and family support.

Youth and talent housing policies in Shenzhen provide rental subsidies, transitional housing and settling-in allowances that support the early years of family formation.

“The criteria of an effective policy measure lies in whether it can reduce the time and economic costs of forming a family and ease care giving burdens,” Huang said.

Huang proposed improving measures in three aspects. First, she said, it is crucial to strengthen employment and income prospects, reduce workplace discrimination based on gender, age and marital status, and improve social security coverage for people in flexible jobs.

Second, better policy coordination is needed across housing, childcare, education and healthcare to help bring down household living expenses. And third, community-based childcare, after-school activities and elderly care services could be further developed to ease the dual burden of child rearing and elder care on families, she added.

The researcher from the Guangdong Academy of Social Sciences emphasized the importance of cultivating a positive and healthy attitude toward marriage and family among young people through publicity, family and school education.

The government could also improve marriage service systems by supporting social organizations, communities, universities and enterprises to build exchange platforms for young people, as well as by offering charitable services to them, he added.

Contact the writer at sally@chinadailyhk.com

Chen Yanshan contributed to this story.