Survey: 1 in 5 Chinese couples wouldn’t marry their current spouse if given chance

World Today

Photo of Love Theme Park in Dalian, China, by omefrans on Flickr.

Five years. That’s how long marital bliss lasts for Chinese couples – at least according to a new survey.

Recent findings by Peking University and Baihe, one of China’s major matchmaking websites, revealed that most Chinese couples start developing problems in their relationship three to five years after marriage.

Some may be familiar with the “seven-year itch” as the time period after which couples start drifting away. But according to the new survey, Chinese are more prone to the “five-year itch” in marriage.

The survey polled nearly 80,000 respondents from across China. Almost one out of five people in their third to fifth year of marriage said they would not marry their current spouse or may not even marry at all, if given another chance.

According to the survey, most people in metropolitan cities get married between 22-28.

The new survey comes at a time when China is suffering from a divorce crisis among couples. Last June, a report from China’s Ministry of Civil Affairs said the divorce rate in China has been on a rise in the past 12 years.

In 2014, for example, more than 3.63 million people registered for divorce in China, a 3.9 percent year-on-year increment. The Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region had the highest divorce rate in 2014 followed by the northeastern provinces of Heilongjiang and Jilin.

Happiness and satisfaction among couples during three to five years after marriage are also at the lowest. But the survey indicates that couples may find happiness after this time frame.

When work and family pressures are combined, wives are often more unhappy compared to husbands. The situation is worse among families with children where fathers play a lesser role in raising them.

The survey also said 29.04 percent of children below the age of three were mainly taken care of by mothers while only 2.1 percent fathers were involved in parenting duties.

Story by CCTV News

chinese couples