11.06
·Reported
·Importance III
·Sources 1
·China
According to data from the Ministry of Civil Affairs, 4.648 million couples registered for marriage in China in the first three quarters of 2026, a year-on-year decrease of approximately 500,000 pairs; 2.082 million couples registered for divorce, remaining largely flat compared to the same period last year. The divorce-to-marriage ratio reached 44.8%, approaching the high of 45.3% seen in the same period of 2020.
11.05
·Official claim
·Importance III
·Sources 1
·China
Data released by China's Ministry of Civil Affairs shows that approximately 4.65 million couples registered for marriage in the first three quarters of 2026, a decrease of about 500,000 compared to the same period last year.
11.04
·Reported
·Importance II
·Sources 1
·Hebei
On November 4, a netizen in Hebei posted a video showing an elderly person with limited mobility crawling on the ground in a very simple room. The video sparked concerns among netizens about their own future elderly care, with some saying they have started saving sleeping pills since the age of 52.
10.30
·Reported
·Importance II
·Sources 1
·China
On October 30, the official Bilibili account of China News Service reposted a People's Daily video commentary on pensions regarding young people being unable to afford to support the elderly. A large number of netizens refuted this through comments and bullet comments, stating that they can barely support themselves and questioning whether state media is manufacturing or avoiding anxiety about retirement.
10.26
·Reported
·Importance II
·Sources 1
·China
A video recently circulated on Douyin showing a shirtless, emaciated elderly person bending over to rummage through a roadside trash can. Commenters left sarcastic remarks, saying this is the older generation of farmers who handed over their grain quotas — this is what “care in old age” looks like.
10.25
·Reported
·Importance IV
·Sources 1
·China
According to the China Statistical Yearbook 2026, China's population aged 65 and above reached 224 million in 2025, accounting for 15.9%, exceeding for the first time the share of the 0-to-14 age group at 15.1%; the old-age dependency ratio of 23.1% surpassed the child dependency ratio of 22% for the first time.
10.25
·Reported
·Importance III
·Sources 1
·China
On October 25, Yicai reported that as the number of children declines, kindergartens in many places are being converted into nursing homes, and preschool teachers are changing careers to care for the elderly. In 2025, China's old-age dependency ratio exceeded the child dependency ratio for the first time, with the population aged 65 and above exceeding the 0–14 age group by 10.89 million.
10.23
·Reported
·Importance IV
·Sources 1
·Beijing
On October 23, Chinese Premier Li Qiang presided over the State Council executive meeting, calling for accelerating the building of a fertility-friendly society, improving policies on marriage, childbirth, child-rearing and education, optimizing family support measures such as fiscal and tax, social security and housing policies, and striving to stabilize the scale of the newborn population.
10.23
·Reported
·Importance II
·Sources 1
·China
On October 23, the Journal of the Central Party School published a paper by scholars from Renmin University of China titled "Optimization of the Social Security System and Solidly Advancing Common Prosperity," which points out that in 2025 the average monthly pension expenditure for urban employees is 3,900 yuan, while that for urban and rural residents is only 276 yuan, a difference of 14 times, and recommends substantially raising the basic pension for farmers, with the older the age, the larger the increase.
10.20
·Reported
·Importance II
·Sources 2
·China
On October 20, Gelonghui released data on sex ratios by birth order for 31 provinces (municipalities) based on the 2020 China Census Yearbook: nationally, the sex ratio for first births was 113.17, for second births 106.78, and for third births it rose to 132.93, with Hubei's third-birth sex ratio reaching as high as 177.42, Anhui at 165.95, and Fujian at 164.49.
10.16
·Official claim
·Importance III
·Sources 1
·Shandong
At a press conference, the head of the Shandong Provincial Department of Civil Affairs claimed that individuals are the primary responsible party for elderly care, triggering a strong public backlash.
10.16
·Reported
·Importance II
·Sources 1
·Shandong
Zhuang Yan, director of the Shandong Provincial Department of Civil Affairs, proposed on October 16 that efforts should be made to promote the idea that individuals are the primary responsible party for elderly care, sparking complaints among netizens.
10.13
·Reported
·Importance IV
·Sources 1
·United States
Research by Yi Fuxian, a demographer at the University of Wisconsin–Madison, suggests that China's actual population may be close to 1.27 billion, with the officially announced figure of 1.4 billion overstated by 130 million.
10.13
·Reported
·Importance IV
·Sources 1
·China
On October 13, The Wall Street Journal published a report citing research by Yi Fuxian, a scholar at the University of Wisconsin–Madison, saying that China's actual population may be around 1.27 billion, about 130 million fewer than the officially announced 1.4 billion, based on evidence including vaccine dosages, census data, and discrepancies in school-age population records, and noting that overestimating the population could exacerbate strategic miscalculations between China and the United States.
10.13
·Reported
·Importance III
·Sources 1
·China
On October 13, the YuWa Population Think Tank released the World Expected Population Report 2026, stating that China's "expected population" fell from 1.070 billion in 2016 to 264 million in 2025, a decline of 75.3%, already below the 285 million of the United States, and pointing out that current support for childbirth is so insufficient that it is difficult even to keep the indicator from weakening further.