Large families are “fracturing” into smaller ones, and more and more unmarried men and women are becoming more independent, with nearly half of Shanghai families being “one-generation households” and the proportion of older unmarried people increasing. “
The problem of “leftover men and women” has become more pronounced, and the proportion of highly educated people has increased dramatically.
The Shanghai Bureau of Statistics announced yesterday that the sixth national population census (hereinafter referred to as the “Sixth Census”) showed that the number of households in Shanghai reached 8,253,300 in 2010. The size of Shanghai’s family households continues to shrink, with more than 60% of households being 2 or 3-person households. In contrast to the past, when it was common for families to have several generations together, nearly half of Shanghai’s families are now “one-generation households.
The size of Shanghai’s family households has been shrinking, from 4.9 people per household in 1949 to 2.5 people per household in 2010. “
The six surveys show that in 2010, one-generation households, two-generation households and three-generation households accounted for 49.9%, 39.6% and 10.2% of the total number of households in Shanghai, with one-generation households and two-generation households comprising nearly 90% of the households. Compared with 2000, the proportion of two-generation and three-generation households decreased, while the proportion of one-generation households increased by 14.7 percentage points, becoming the largest household type in the city. This shows that as housing conditions improve and family attitudes change, more and more large families are becoming smaller families, and unmarried men and women are becoming more independent.
The Municipal Bureau of Statistics yesterday released an analysis of the marital status of the Shanghai population based on the sixth national census of Shanghai. The report shows that the proportion of unmarried women in the city’s population is rising more than that of men, and the proportion of older unmarried men to unmarried men is declining compared to a decade ago, while the proportion of older unmarried women is rising, and the proportion of men with spouses is higher than that of women.
Among the unmarried population, 23.6% of the male population aged 15 and older are unmarried, up 1 percentage point from 2000; 19.1% of the female population aged 15 and older are unmarried, up 2.2 percentage points, and the proportion of unmarried females is 1.2 percentage points higher than that of males. The older unmarried population aged 30-44 accounted for 8.4% of the total unmarried population, a slight increase from 2000. The proportion of older unmarried males and females showed an obvious reverse trend. The proportion of older unmarried men to unmarried men was 9.8%, down 2.2 percentage points from 2000, while the proportion of older unmarried women to unmarried women was 6.6%, up 3.4 percentage points.
Among the unmarried population, the share of those with higher education has increased significantly. 46.2% of the total unmarried population had a college degree or higher in 2010, up 23 percentage points from 2000. In 2010, more than half of the unmarried population in the 20-24, 25-29, and 30-34 age groups had a college degree or higher, with nearly 70% of the 25-29 age group having a college degree or higher.
In 2010, the average age of first marriage for Shanghai’s resident population was 24.25 years old, down 1.01 years from 2000. The average age of first marriage was 25.31 for men and 23.22 for women, down 1.38 years and 0.53 years respectively from 2000.
The data from the Sixth National Congress shows that the proportion of divorced people in the population aged 15 and above is 2%, up 0.4 and 1.1 percentage points from 2000 and 1990 respectively. In 2010, the proportion of middle-aged people aged 45-59 accounted for 50.3% of the total divorced population, up 18.4 percentage points from the year 2000. The increase was particularly pronounced in the 50-54 and 55-59 age groups, up by 10.3 and 9.1 percentage points, respectively.
The rise in the proportion of divorced people in middle age is mainly due to the change in the concept of marriage. Some analysis suggests that people in this age group also begin to focus on the pursuit of quality of life and spiritual life in abundance; secondly, people in this age group are under greater pressure of life and work, and the tremendous pressure tends to intensify the various conflicts existing in family life, and if such conflicts are not relieved in time and effectively, it causes divorce The number of divorces increases.